As of Friday, hopefuls for the city’s four open seats on the Sioux Falls City Council are able to begin collecting the signatures they’ll need to officially become candidates in the April 9 election.
So far, six candidates have filed paperwork indicating their intention to run. And five of them have filed their first campaign finance disclosure report, giving an early look at the financial support they’ve been able to drum up.
Here’s what we’ve learned so far:
At-Large C
The only at-large seat in this election cycle was also the only one where an incumbent councilor was in play — that is, before Alex Jensen announced he would not be running for another term.
He instead endorsed Richard Thomason, a former state lawmaker who has called himself “a firm advocate for fiscal responsibility with balanced budgets and low taxes.”
Thomason has a good head start in fundraising, with $10,136.49 in the bank as of Jan. 5.
In addition to $2,138.49 from his own legislative committee, Thomason received several $1,000 donations from names including Mark Mickelson, Ron Nelson and Rocky Rehfeldt.