ST. CLOUD -- Current Stearns County Sheriff's Sergeant Steve Soyka was the top vote-getter in the race to be the next Stearns County Sheriff.  He finished Tuesday's Primary election with 7,346 votes.

Soyka will now move on to the General election in November and face current Waite Park Police Chief Dave Bentrud.  He was the second leading vote-getter with 6,335 votes on Tuesday.

Bob Dickhaus finished third with 4,112 votes and was eliminated from the race.  A fourth candidate, Dwight Pfannenstein, was also on the ballot.  However, he officially ended his campaign earlier this summer when he was hired as the St. Joseph Police Chief.

The current Stearns County Sheriff is Don Gudmundson who was hired by the Stearns County Board of Commissioners after longtime Sheriff John Sanner resigned.  Gudmundson had said through his hiring process that he did not intend to run for election.

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