An unusually large number of legislators and prominent Minnesota politicos are opting to run in county commissioner races across the state.

It was one of those votes no one wanted to take. The state’s new maps dropped DFL senators and allies John Marty and Mary Jo McGuire into Senate District 66, forcing activists in the area to pick between them at a recent endorsing convention.

Eight-term DFL Sen. John Marty prevailed in an endorsement contest against fellow senator Mary Jo McGuire after only one ballot.

Minneapolis DFLers lost another legislator last weekend. Freshman Rep. Marion Greene, who replaced former DFL House Speaker and gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher in the chamber, fell in an endorsement contest against DFL House colleague Frank Hornstein.

House and Senate races across the state are rapidly shaking out following the release of new legislative maps.

Tempers flared and debates grew heated around the Capitol over the past week as Republicans in the House put their controversial legislative redistricting map on the table. The map carves up a new political landscape that pits 26 incumbents against one another - 20 in the House and six in the Senate - and all but one of the matchups put a DFLer, or two, in peril.

Former DFL Rep. Mary Jo McGuire will return to the Capitol - this time in the upper chamber - after winning the special election for Senate District 66 Tuesday evening.

Former state Rep. Mary Jo McGuire won the special primary election in Senate District 66 by racking up huge vote margins on her home turf of Falcon Heights. In the two precincts covering the Ramsey County suburb, she received 508 votes -- compared to just 53 votes for Rep. John Lesch and 28 votes for attorney Steven Marchese.

Former state Rep. Mary Jo McGuire won the DFL primary election in Senate District 66 with 54 percent of the vote, according to the Ramsey County Elections division. She handily defeated current state Rep. John Lesch, who garnered 36 percent of the vote. Attorney Steven Marchese finished well back with just under 10 percent of the vote.

Ahead of next Tuesday's DFL special primary in Senate District 66, the statewide teachers union Education Minnesota has endorsed Rep. John Lesch to succeed former Sen. Ellen Anderson.