Grimm retains seat on St. Louis County Board

Ashley Grimm will keep her seat on the St. Louis County Board of Commissioners representing the 3rd district.

Duluth City Councilor Janet Kennedy challenged her for the seat.

The 3rd district commissioner represents the very southern tip of St. Louis County, neighborhoods that run along the St. Louis River. It is a nonpartisan race, which Grimm said made it a bit more challenging to get her message out in a presidential election year.

“What we do locally affects our lives maybe more than any other position, especially the county,” she said. “And so it was amazing to get to talk about the investments we’ve done in the western half of Duluth, the improvements that we’ve made to mental health, and this vision forward for what we can really do in our communities.”

Grimm won the seat in 2020 with 55 percent of the vote over Joe Macor’s about 45 percent. She ran for re-election on what she called “historic levels of county investment to Duluth’s Western neighborhoods.”

Kennedy currently represents District 5, western Duluth, on the Duluth City Council and has since 2020. She was re-elected in 2023, and her council term expires on Jan. 3, 2028. She said she ran for the county board to foster better communication and leadership in the community.