REGIONAL - Hotly contested races across the region and state will go to the voters next Tuesday. Polls will be open in Minnesota from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in most areas.

In the North Country, all eyes will be on the Eighth District race as constituents will decide who replaces outgoing DFL Congressman Rick Nolan.

The race between DFLer Joe Radinovich and GOP candidate Pete Stauber has seen some of the highest spending of any congressional race in the country with outside political groups spending millions of dollars in advertising, most of it from conservative groups targeting Radinovich over a number of traffic violations and a marijuana citation from his youth.

Political fact-checkers, such as Politifact, have ruled many of the ads “mostly false.”

Stauber’s campaign has faced its own controversy over his use of his St. Louis County email account for politically-based communications with the National Republican Congressional Committee. St. Louis County finally released those emails this week (see related story page 1), under a court order.

Health care has been a major focus of the campaign, with Radinovich offering support for a single-payer universal health care program, by making Medicare available to all Americans.

Stauber has painted that plan as a “government takeover” of health care but has said little about his own plans for health care.

The race has also seen a third-party candidate emerge, Ray “Skip” Sandman, who is running on the Independence Party ticket.

Locally, voters will decide who replaces Tom Rukavina on the county commission after he announced his retirement due to health concerns. Educator Paul McDonald and former Sheriff’s Deputy Bernie Mettler were the top vote-getters in the August primary and have faced off ahead of Tuesday’s general election (see related story page 1).

Statewide, DFL Congressman Tim Walz is vying to keep his party in control of the Governor’s Mansion against GOP candidate and Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson. Johnson unsuccessfully challenged current Governor Mark Dayton in 2012.

Walz has adopted many of the Democratic Party’s national campaign themes, advocating for single-payer health care in the state and increased funding to education.

Johnson, who once criticized President Trump, has now thrown his support behind the president. Johnson has called for the state to stop allowing refugee resettlement within its borders saying it is costing taxpayers too much.

Attorney General candidate Keith Ellison met with voters in the region, including visits to Hibbing and Cook. Ellison, an outgoing DFL congressman from Minneapolis, is facing GOP hopeful Doug Wardlow to replace retiring Attorney General Lori Swanson, who bowed out of the office to run for governor.

Both Ellison and Wardlow have attracted controversy. Ellison has fought off allegations made by a former girlfriend this past summer that he grabbed her leg and pulled her across a bed during a domestic dispute, an allegation he denies. A DFL investigation into the matter found the allegations unfounded and recently released divorce papers from an earlier marriage suggested that Ellison had faced occasional physical violence from his ex-wife, but did not reciprocate.

Wardlow in recent weeks has faced criticism he bullied a high school classmate over their sexual orientation. Wardlow is connected to the alt-right group, the Alliance Defending Freedom, which has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He served as the group’s legal counsel during campaigns to stop the legalization of same-sex marriage and authored many of the group’s legal briefs supporting a business’s right to fire LGBT employees and deny services to others.

If you are unsure of your polling location, you can go to https://pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us/ . If you are voting early or by mail, you can contact local government offices for further direction.