Governor candidate Stanek released from hospital after crash

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Republican gubernatorial candidate Rich Stanek was released from the hospital Thursday after a car crash Tuesday night following a campaign event in Buffalo, his campaign said.

The Minnesota State Patrol said Stanek collided with a car going north on Highway 25 Tuesday night as he was pulling out of the Buffalo Covenant Church parking lot driving a pickup truck, according to the incident report. Alcohol was not a factor for either driver and both drivers were wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash, the patrol said.

Campaign spokesman Jon Collins told The Associated Press that Stanek, a former Hennepin County sheriff, was taken to the hospital “out of an abundance of caution,” and was examined for injuries to his neck and back due to previous surgeries in those areas for injuries Stanek sustained earlier in his law enforcement career.

The other driver suffered non-life threatening injuries but was not hospitalized, the patrol said.

Stanek was expected to return to the campaign trail Thursday after being cleared by doctors, according to his campaign.

“I want to thank everyone across Minnesota for their warm wishes,” Stanek said in a statement. “I may have taken a couple days off from the campaign trail to rest, but I will be back on the campaign trial later today.”

Stanek was sheriff from 2007 to 2019 and is now among the Republican hopefuls looking to get the GOP endorsement next month to face Democratic Gov. Tim Walz in November.