The polls are long closed, the ballots are tallied and Terry Kelley is the Independence Party candidate for the State Senate District 27 race.

Of the 1,971 people who voted in the Independence Party primary in Fillmore, Freeborn and Mower counties, 73 percent voted for Kelley and 27 percent voted for his opponent, Jennifer Ney.

Kelley was pleased. "It feels great to get into the general election. Anytime you have a primary candidate, you have to be concerned about them."

Of course, this doesn't mean Kelley's campaign is over.

Not by a long shot, he said.

"We ran a low-key primary campaign and it worked very well for us. We're going to continue raising money, going door-to-door. We plan to get into some debates with the other two candidates. More of the same."

Ney says she's "still in the game at this point," and plans to be a write-in candidate on the Nov. 5 ballot with her platform of reducing state-imposed taxes and making it more difficult for people in Minnesota to get divorced.

She's not at all discouraged and says she actually was startled to get as many votes as she did. "I was surprised to get 30 percent of the vote total. The underdog usually has a tougher time. Being a newcomer to this community, I was very impressed."

Amanda L. Rohde can be reached at 434-2214 or by e-mail at :mailto:amanda.rohde@austindailyherald.com