Last fall, the North Shore Health Board of Directors, responsible for overseeing the hospital’s operations and ensuring quality care, was swamped with angry constituents at a meeting following the hospital’s staffing agency’s termination of popular, long-time ER doctor Bruce Dahlman. People were also angry about an alleged toxic work culture at the hospital and care center.
When constituent complaints did not bring Dr. Dahlman back on staff, a group of citizens, empowered by their collective voice, sought candidates willing to stand for election to the two hospital board seats on the ballot.
Dr. Milan Schmidt, a retired physician with more than a decade of experience at Sawtooth Mountain Clinic and North Shore Health, filed to run in District 2 against Douglas Sanders, who was running for the seat currently held by his wife, Mary Sanders. Dr. Schmidt’s extensive experience and commitment to community health resonated with voters, leading to his victory with 532 votes to 98 for Sanders, a testament to the power of concerned citizens actively organizing.
Sam Usem, a local resident who works remotely as an enterprise architect for the Mayo Clinic, filed to run in District 4 against incumbent Director and current board Chair Kathryn Olson. Usem describes his work at Mayo as “basically a general contractor for technologies.” Reflecting the anger that still simmers over the board’s previous inaction, Usem earned 627 votes, easily defeating Olson, who received 153 votes. He will become the District 4 Director on January 1.
The county commissioner election for District 4 became controversial after filing concluded this spring. One of the two candidates who filed for the seat was essentially booted from the election when county officials decided that a mistake they made in 2022 when re-drawing district boundaries following the 2020 census moved that candidate, Arvis Thompson, outside the boundary of District 4. Thompson eventually agreed to withdraw her candidacy, and the county opened a brief filing period.
Dean Berglund, a 2020 candidate for the District 4 seat, entered the race this year against Ann Sullivan, the incumbent commissioner and current county board chair—this second matchup ended with Sullivan coming out on top, 456 votes to Berglund’s 411.
The commissioner race in District 2 featured one candidate, former commissioner Garry Gamble, who was the only name on the ballot. He received 386 votes to 62 votes for various write-in candidates.
For higher offices, Cook County voters overwhelmingly supported the ticket of Harris/ Walz, with 2,416 votes to 1,142 for Trump/Vance.
They voted for DFLer Amy Klobuchar for Senate by more than a two-to-one margin, 2,517 to 1,000 for the Republican’s Royce White.
In the US House election for District 8, which runs from the Northwest Angle to Grand Portage and drops into the suburbs of St. Paul, Cook County voters chose DFLer Jen Schulz with 2,399 votes to incumbent Repbulican Pete Stauber’s 1,194.
In the State House District 3A race, a district that runs from International Falls to Grand Portage and downshore to the east side of Duluth, Republican incumbent Roger Skraba prevailed with 14,443 votes. In Cook County, however, voters chose DFL-endorsed Harley Droba with 2,240 votes to Skraba’s 1,205.
In partisan terms, it is clear that Cook County voters generally prefer Democrats. And as the hospital board elections prove, community organizing is an effective way to lead positive change.
