Incumbent Richfield Mayor Debbie Goettel defeated former Mayor Marty Kirsch by about 1,200 votes Tuesday night in a rematch of their contest four years ago.

The first-term mayor won re-election with 55 percent of the vote, 6,383 to 5,179.

Incumbent At-Large Councilmember Sue Sandahl defeated challenger Bob Hall with about 63 percent of the votes cast, according to results from the Minnesota Secretary of State's office.

Between 50 and 60 write-in ballots were cast in both races.

Kirsch ran a campaign critical of the lack of economic progress in the city during the past four years, while Goettel asked voters for another term to turn things around in a slumping economy.

In Richfield-area races for the state Legislature, DFL incumbent Ken Kelash had 63 percent of the vote to challenger Craig Marston's 37 percent in Minnesota Senate District 63 with all the votes counted.

House District 63B incumbent DFLer Linda Slocum captured 61 percent of the vote to defeat Republican challenger Joel Jennissen.

And in District 63A, incumbent Rep. Paul Thissen defeated his Republican opponent, Nathan Atkins, by a margin of more than 2 to 1.

About 11,500 votes were cast for mayor Tuesday, according to the Secretary of State's office, out of 20,206 voters who were registered in Richfield when the polls opened.