Silver Bay sets 2026 election filing dates and ballot races

Silver Bay candidates now have a clear path to the ballot, and the clock is set. Affidavits of candidacy open July 14 and close July 28 at 5 p.m. at Silver Bay City Hall, 7 Davis Drive. The city’s 2026 election will be held Tuesday, Nov. 3, and the ballot will include a mayoral race for a two-year term plus two at-large council seats for four-year terms.

The filing window matters because it sets the field for a city that runs on a small-government structure with real local consequences. Silver Bay is a Statutory Plan A city with an elected mayor, four council members and an appointed city administrator. It holds even-year elections, with the mayor serving a two-year term and council seats staggered over four years, which means the November ballot will shape both immediate leadership and the longer governing lineup at City Hall.

Minnesota law sets the basic rules for who can run. City candidates file affidavits of candidacy with the municipal clerk, and the filing must be received by 5 p.m. on the last day of the filing period. Candidates must be eligible voters and meet the state’s age and residency requirements, including being 21 or older and having maintained residence for 30 days before the general election. For Silver Bay hopefuls, that makes the July 28 deadline at City Hall the critical cutoff.

The city’s regular council meetings, held on the first and third Monday of each month at 6 p.m. unless changed by resolution, remain the place where the issues that drive campaigns usually surface first. That is where residents will see decisions on city services, budgets and other local matters that can quickly become election issues in a town of Silver Bay’s size. City Hall at 7 Davis Drive is the city’s main administrative office and the election-related contact point for would-be candidates and voters alike.

The 2024 election showed how much can hinge on a clear ballot structure. Wade LeBlanc was reelected mayor, and a later correction clarified that only two council seats were open. Ben Bautch won with 29.8 percent of the vote and James Fitzgerald won with 23.7 percent, in a race that featured at least five council candidates and three mayoral candidates. That kind of turnout makes the filing period more than a formality: it is the point when Silver Bay’s next political contest begins to take shape.

State election officials also moved early. On April 21, 2026, the Minnesota Secretary of State announced updated candidate resources, new affidavits and the 2026 Campaign Manual ahead of filing season. For Silver Bay, the timeline is now concrete, the offices are defined and the race for City Hall has officially started.