ELY — Ely voters will choose between two familiar faces for mayor this fall after City Councilor Emily Roose filed for the city’s top elected post on the final day of the candidate filing period, setting up a challenge to incumbent Mayor Heidi Omerza.
Roose, who has served on the council since 2022, filed June 2, the last day candidates could submit paperwork. Omerza filed May 20 and is seeking her third term as mayor. She served 16 years as a council member before winning the mayor’s seat in 2022. The two have served alongside each other on the council throughout the ongoing disputes over Ely’s lodging tax funds, a conflict that dominated city business for much of the past year. Roose was among the most vocal critics of the mayor’s initial decision to reappoint Paul Kess to the Ely Area Lodging Tax Joint Powers Board in January of this year, after Kess had declined to follow council direction at a November board meeting, voting against giving the Ely Area Tourism Bureau, also known as VisitEly, its full funding request.
The three council seats up for election are currently held by Al Forsman, Angela Campbell, and Adam Bisbee.
Incumbents Forsman and Campbell both filed, along with four others: Abby Dare, Lacey Squier, Mark Zupec, and Josh Brang.
Forsman, who has served multiple terms, has been a consistent voice on the Ely Utilities Commission, where he has championed a policy of steady, incremental utility rate increases to keep the city’s electric utility on sound financial footing and avoid the need for larger emergency rate hikes.
Campbell has taken on a regional role alongside her council duties, serving on the Range Association of Municipalities and Schools board of directors, where she represents Ely’s interests before the Iron Range’s unified lobbying voice at the state Legislature.
Dare brings a different kind of civic resume to the race. As executive director of VisitEly, she was a central figure in the lodging tax controversy, repeatedly addressing the council about the impact of reduced funding on the tourism bureau’s operations and staffing. Dare ultimately stepped down from the directorship amid the dispute. She has been publicly critical of the divisive either-or framing that she said had fractured community trust in Ely, and has called for more strategic, long-term thinking in how the city manages its tourism economy.
Squier served as board chair of the Ely Folk School, where she helped oversee significant growth in the organization’s programming and staff during her four-year tenure. She is perhaps best known as the emcee of Ely’s Tuesday Group.
Zupec served on the Ely City Council for several years in the past.
Brang is a new name in Ely civic politics.
The general election is Nov. 3.