A former Freeborn County District 3 commissioner announced Tuesday he will seek to return to that seat in the November general election.

Keith Porter Sr. will come up against current District 3 Commissioner Jim Nelson, who has been in office since 2003, and 5th Ward Albert Lea City Councilor John Severtson, who announced in March he would not seek re-election on the council and would instead seek election to the Freeborn County Board of Commissioners.

Porter said he has heard of a few others who might be running for the seat as well.

“It was an interesting job,” Porter said. “You’re always learning something.”

Porter held the District 3 seat from 1992 through 2000 but was defeated in the 2000 election by challenger Dan Springborg by nearly 1,000 votes. Springborg resigned in November of 2004 and was replaced by Commissioner Nelson shortly after.

After he was out of the county commissioner seat, Porter ran for the House District 27A seat in 2004 with the Independent Party and received 7 percent of the vote, while Republican Dan Dorman was the victor.

Now, after an eight-year hiatus from the county board, Porter said he decided he wanted to come back because he is pretty much retired and has more time than he used to. He works part time at Interstate Motor Trucks.

In his personal life over the years, Porter has had a wide variety of business experience.

In 1969 he and his brother had a beer and pop distributorship. He owned a tavern in Buffalo Center, Iowa, for a year, and from 1977 to 1981 he co-owned the Palace Bar on William Street. It is now the Nasty Habit Bar & Grill.

From 1981 to 1994, he started Porter Sanitation, during which he partnered with Freeborn County Solid Waste Officer Randy Tuchtenhagen for 13 years.

He also owned Albert Lea Fire and Safety Co.

He has four adult children from a previous marriage and his wife, Dorothy, has six adult children from a previous marriage. He and Dorothy were married seven years ago.

They have eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Porter said one thing he enjoyed most during his time before on the county board was seeing a project start in the beginning stages, go through all the necessary steps of development and then finally come to fruition.

He said he hasn’t thought a whole lot about campaigning yet, but if he makes it through the primary, then he’ll get a little more serious about it.

He joked that after he got beat in 2000 by Springborg, he burned up $800 worth of campaign signs that couldn’t be recycled. Now he’s wishing he still had those signs.