The two candidates vying for the Minnesota House’s District 8B seat, which covers all of Kanabec County, have agreed to debate next month in Mora.

Republican challenger Judy Soderstrom and incumbent DFL’er Tim Faust will meet at Mora High School’s auditorium on Saturday, Oct. 18 for what promises to be a spirited discussion about issues facing both Kanabec County and the state of Minnesota.

The debate, sponsored by the Kanabec Area Chamber of Commerce, will be moderated by Kanabec County Times editor Jay Corn, Pine City Pioneer editor Becky Glander and WCMP radio’s news manager Sam Klement.

In addition to the Soderstrom/Faust main event, a debate between Roger Crawford and Jerry Nelson - the two men running for the District 2 Kanabec County Commissioner seat - has also been finalized as an “opening act.”

Tom Jones has agreed to moderate.

The evening will begin at 7 p.m. and admission will be free.

Elsewhere in local politics:

• Last Tuesday’s primary election narrowed the field of men seeking the District 2 Kanabec County Commissioner seat down from three to two.

Roger Crawford received 49 percent of the votes cast, while incumbent Jerry Nelson edged Don Semelhack by just 12 votes.

District 2 represents the city of Mora. In all, 1,331 Kanabec County voters cast ballots during Tuesday’s primary.

• In addition to the county commissioner race, candidates running for U.S. Senate were also finalized.Independence Party candidate Dean Barkley (34 votes), DFL candidate Al Franken (414 votes) and incumbent Republican Norm Coleman (435 votes) will be the three candidates appearing on November’s general election ballot.

Priscilla Lord Faris received a total of 341 votes in Kanabec County and won several townships.

• Mark Nelson and Wally Goldsmith have both declared their candidacy for mayor of Ogilvie. Also in Ogilvie, Ken Taylor, Charlie Strickland, Phil Kitterman, Greg Miller and Clark Schmidt will vie for two city council seats up for election this November.

• Five candidates - Robert Bollenbeck, Casey Kullman, Dave Chmiel, Mike Johnson and Mark Gravich – are all seeking a seat on Mora’s City Council. Three seats on that body are up for election on Nov. 4.

• Five area residents have filed for three Mora School Board positions up for election this year. Jinx Greski, Karen Kirschner, Robert Woods, Scott Moe and Ethan Elvehjem have all declared their candidacies.

Check future editions of the Times and the paper’s Web site, www.moraminn.com, for continuing coverage of local races.