3rd Republican joins race for Bachmann's seat

State Sen. John Pederson on Monday became the third Republican to jump into the race for the Sixth District seat of U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, the St. Cloud Times reports.

Pederson, a second-term GOP lawmaker from St. Cloud, said he has filed a statement of his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission, the first formal step toward declaring a candidacy for federal office, the newspaper reports. Pederson plans to file another form this week organizing his campaign committee, the Times reports.

The former St. Cloud City councilman is part-owner of the concrete products company Amcon Block & Precast, Inc. Here's more about him from his state Senate campaign page.

Pederson joins two other GOP contenders in the race: Rhonda Sivarajah, chair of the Anoka County Board of Commissioners, announced her candidacy in Ham Lake last week; former gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer threw his hat in the ring early this month.

One Democrat is in the race, environmental activist Judy Adams of Circle Pines.

Bachmann last month announced she would not seek re-election, and her opponent Jim Graves, dropped out of the race a few days later.