Openly gay Pine City Mayor elected, making history for MN town

Pine City elects first gay mayor

A community in east-central Minnesota is making history again after electing its first openly gay mayor. FOX 9’s Maury Glover has the story.

PINE CITY, Minn. (FOX 9) - Kent Bombard has already broken new ground in Pine City.

Now he is doing it again and he couldn't be happier.

"It was a big relief. Incredibly excited, and I'm honored that the people of the community have put their faith in me to continue leading our city forward," said Bombard.

Last summer, Bombard became the first openly gay mayor in the city's history when he was appointed to the position after the previous mayor stepped down to spend more time with family.

On election night, Bombard became the city's first openly gay mayor to be elected after he received nearly 50 percent of the vote and beat out 3 challengers in the process.

"This has been my hometown my entire life, So it's awesome to be able to feel like I can still fit in, and I can still belong and that I'm not a weird outlier in my hometown or in my community. That everybody's accepting everything," said Bombard.

What makes Bombard's victory even more interesting is that he was elected to the non-partisan position in a county that voted overwhelmingly for republicans Donald Trump and Royce White over democrats Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar for President and U.S. Senate.

But Bombard says Pine City, which is home to the first rural gay pride celebration in Minnesota, is more inclusive than people may think.

"It doesn't get brought up very frequently, but it's just kind of everybody stays in their own lane and kind of does their own thing, and we all work together well, and we move forward," said Bombard.

Bombard says he's grateful he is not just a placeholder for a few months and that he has the support of the community to do the job.

"I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to make some progress for the next two years and see what kind of challenges we can face and how we can overcome them, and I'm really happy," said Bombard.

Bombard will be sworn in for another term during the first city council meeting in January. He says his top priorities remain expanding housing and bringing higher-paying jobs to his community.