Unofficial election results showed Shelley Buck was on track to win the Democratic-Farmer-Labor special primary for Woodbury and Maplewood’s House District 47A an hour after polls closed Tuesday night.

As of just before 9 p.m., Buck had 87% of the vote with eight of 11 precincts reporting results. Her two DFL competitors shared the remainder of the votes.

Winners of Tuesday’s pair of DFL special primary elections for two vacant House seats advance to the Jan. 27 special general election. No Republican primary was required in either House district.

Buck is the former president of the Prairie Island Tribal Council and director of a Dakota-led nonprofit organization working to restore land around St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, known as Owámniyomni in the Dakota language. She had the DFL endorsement.

Prairie Island Indian Community President Shelley Buck speaks at the Treasure Island Center ribbon cutting in St. Paul on Jan. 16, 2018. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Meanwhile, there were no results available for the DFL primary House District 64A in St. Paul. No precincts had reported results.

Districts 47A and 64A have been vacant since their former representatives won election to new offices in November.

Rep. Kaohly Her, DFL-St. Paul, was elected St. Paul’s next mayor, and Rep. Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger, DFL-Woodbury, won a special election for Senate District 47, the seat Nicole Mitchell resigned from after her burglary conviction.

One Republican candidate filed to run in District 64A.

Both districts strongly favor Democratic candidates. Six DFLers sought their party’s nomination in St. Paul’s District 64A, which includes the Union Park, Macalester-Groveland and Summit-University neighborhoods.

64A candidates include:

• Beth Fraser, a former Minnesota deputy secretary of state.

• Matt Hill, an aide on the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners.

• Meg Luger-Nikolai, a labor attorney endorsed by the DFL.

• Dan McGrath, a longtime progressive organizer.

• Lois Quam, a health care executive who helped implement MinnesotaCare.

• John Zwier, an assistant state attorney general under Attorney General Keith Ellison

The winner will face the sole Republican candidate, business owner Dan Walsh, in January.

DFLers dominate elections in St. Paul. Her won four consecutive two-year terms with more than 80% of the vote.

Three candidates sought the DFL nomination in House District 47A, which includes parts of the city of Woodbury and southern Maplewood.

Since no Republican filed paperwork to run in the district, Tuesday’s primary will likely determine the winner of the January special general election.

Buck competed with David Azcona and Juli Servatius for the DFL nod.

The House currently has 67 Republican members and 65 DFL members, though barring a significant, unprecedented upset, January’s special elections are likely to return the chamber to a 67-67 tie, which voters delivered in the 2024 election.

The Minnesota Legislature is scheduled to reconvene on Feb. 17.

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