Candidates who filed and whose petition signatures were verified were Stephan Podrygula, Joan Hawbaker, Nicole Brasfield, Eric Locken, David Wiley, L. John MacMartin and Isaiah Keller. The drawing of names to establish the ballot order followed the State of the City event.

Running for Minot mayor are incumbent Mark Jantzer and Josiah Roise, who had run for mayor last August during a special election to fill a vacancy.

Roise, a Minot native, operates a Minot rain gutter business and is chair of a newly organized Minot Young Republicans chapter.

Jantzer has served on the Minot City Council since 2008 and had served as acting mayor from the time a vacancy was created on April 1 until his election Aug. 5 in a four-way race for the office. A retired computer store manager, Jantzer has served in business and leadership roles, including as chair of Task Force 21 for more than 25 years.

John MacMartin

MacMartin, who newly announced his entry into the council race, has lived in Minot since August of 1990 and retired in September 2022 from the Minot Area Chamber EDC after a 32-year career. His professional background includes working as a city planning consultant, an aide to a Montana U.S. congressman and a corporate staff member of KOA Kampgrounds of America (KOA) headquartered in Billings, Montana.

MacMartin came to Minot in August to become president of the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce after serving as vice president of the Billings Area Chamber of Commerce for nearly four years. From the start of his career in Minot, MacMartin was involved in Minot Air Force Base military affairs committee and honorary commanders program. He was a member of Task Force 96 and Task Force 21 during their successful efforts to retain Minot AFB during Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) rounds.

His educational background is in public administration, city planning and business. MacMartin has earned three degrees – an associate, a bachelor’s and a master’s – from three different institutions in the North Dakota University System.

He said his interest in serving on the Minot City Council is to help the community continue to move forward. He cites completing flood protection and continuing the success of public-private partnership in economic development as major priorities.

Isaiah Keller has served as director for Seeds of Eden, a faith-based recovery program in Minot.

Podrygula, a clinical and forensic psychologist, is a long-time Minot resident who previously served on the council for 16 years, from 1998-2002, 2004-2008 and 2016-2024.

Locken, the City of Minot’s 2022 Citizen of the Year, is a Minot native. Locken works for Gordon Technologies in Minot and has been employed in and out of the oil industry for the past 18 years.

Hawbaker is a long-time nurse and community volunteer. She has lived in Minot and worked for Trinity Health for nearly 36 years. Now semi-retired from nursing, Hawbaker volunteers for the Matthew 25 Project and Dakota Hope Clinic and serves on the board of Come AlongSide Others.

Brasfield, a resident of Minot since 2009, owns an insurance agency and previously served seven years as a Ward County deputy. She holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Minot State University.

Wiley is retired from the U.S. Army, having served with the 101st Airborne Division. A native of Minot, he returned in 2001 and worked as a mechanic for a time. He earned a psychology degree from Minot State University, served as president of his condo association and has taught private music lessons.

Kyler Collom and David Gipson had announced intentions to run, but Collom didn’t provide enough verified signatures and Gipson did not file.

Filing to run for Minot’s municipal judge position were Ashley Beall and Faron Terry.

Beall currently serves as municipal judge, a position she was first elected to in 2018. She owns Beall Law Office in Minot. Beall was born and raised in Bismarck and graduated from the University of North Dakota School of Law in 2009 and began practicing in Minot, doing both prosecution and defense work in and around the Minot area.

Terry is a graduate of the University of North Dakota School of Law and has been licensed in the state since 1991. He owns Terry Law Office and practices general law.

Filing for Ward County State’s Attorney were Andrew Schultz and Christopher Nelson.

Nelson has spent the past eight years prosecuting cases as an assistant state’s attorney in Ward County. He is a graduate of the University of North Dakota School of Law and has been licensed in North Dakota since 2017.

Schultz is a Kentucky native who earned his law degree from Saint Louis University School of Law in 2009. Following his Army service, he came to Minot, where he has operated a law firm since 2011. He previously ran for state’s attorney in 2018.

Incumbent Ward County Commissioners John Fjeldahl and Jason Olson also have filed to run again. Olson, a retired Minot police chief, is seeking his second four-year term, and Fjeldahl, whose background is in farming and carpentry, is seeking his sixth term.

Three incumbents have filed to run unopposed for three open seats on the Minot Park Board, and the Minot Public Schools board will likely have a fresh face after only one of two incumbents filed for reelection.

Incumbents Perry Olson, Justin Hammer and Mike Schmitt are the only candidates to seek the seats on the Minot Park Board.

Mike Schmitt has served on the board since 2018. A graduate of Minot High and Minnesota State-Moorhead, Schmitt received a criminal justice degree and worked as an investigator with the U.S. government for 33 years. He previously was board member and president of the Minot Hockey Boosters and the Maysa board, and has been active with the North Dakota High School Activities Officials and North Dakota Amateur Hockey officials.

Justin Hammer is a graduate of the University of North Dakota from Williston, who graduated with a degree in parks, recreation and leisure studies. A Minot resident since 2002, Hammer has worked as a realtor and was elected in 2022.

Perry Olson is a graduate of Our Redeemer’s Christian School and Minot State University who worked for 15 years in television. He currently works in business development at First International Bank and Trust, and has been active in various community organizations including the park board since 2018.

Incumbent and current school board president Mitch Kraft is a graduate of Plaza High School and Minot State University, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in management. Kraft has served on the school board first from 2016-2020 with a second term from 2022 to the present. He has been school board president since 2024.

Current school board member Sabrina Herrmann’s seat is also up this cycle, but she did not seek re-election.

The only other individual to file was Matt Bianco, a 24-year veteran of the United States Air Force who first moved to Minot in 2013. Bianco currently works as a contractor on Minot Air Force Base. He is a graduate of the University of North Dakota, where he received a Master’s in business administration.

Bianco said the work of the school board has interested him for a while, and is running with a focus on reducing the district’s budget and engaging with educators to help guide decision-making.

“I know the budget is always going to be a concern, if we could ever get that reigned in. I’m sure there are plenty of improvements we could make in our school system for our educators and students alike,” Bianco said.

Staff Writer Charles Crane contributed to this story.