Amazi to seek fourth term
Published 10:38 am Thursday, May 15, 2014
Mower County Sheriff Terese Amazi will run for re-election.
Amazi formally announced her campaign Thursday morning. She has served as sheriff for 12 years and is the first elected female sheriff in Minnesota.
“I look forward to the opportunity of serving Mower County,” she said.
Amazi joined the Mower County Sheriff’s Department as a deputy in 1989 after a year as a jailer at the Mower County Jail. She served as a detective in the sheriff’s office from 1996 to 1998 and served as chief deputy under Barry Simonson from 1998 to 2002, when she first ran for election.
Since then, two other female sheriffs have been elected in Minnesota. Carlton County’s Kelly Lake was elected in 2006 and Polk County’s Barb Erdman was elected in 2010.
Amazi has served three terms thus far, and was last elected in 2010 after a contentious race with Jeff Ellis, a sergeant who served in the sheriff’s department. Amazi captured 67 percent of the vote with 9,425 votes to Ellis’s 4,615.
Since her last re-election, Amazi has helped lead efforts to get the new Mower County Jail and Justice Center running, as well as keep the office current with the latest in law enforcement technology.
Amazi said she’s not aware of any other candidate in the upcoming sheriff’s race.
The filing period for local elected offices is May 20 to June 3.