Preliminary results won’t be official until Friday, but the leaders for the Lyon County Commission races have comfortable leads after Tuesday’s official primary election.
Republican incumbent Rollie Martin ended the night with 450 votes for the Third District race, ahead of newcomers Chris Bartel at 281 and Jarom Smith at 270. Martin says his three prior terms on the commission gave him the edge he needed.
Smith says he will still be vocal about topics of concern in Lyon County.
Meanwhile, Doug Peck, a former Kansas Highway Patrol trooper, built on an early lead for the Second District position through the night and ended Tuesday with 860 votes, well ahead of Phil Mott’s 437 and Robert McClelland’s 395 votes in the race to replace Dan Slater, who is retiring at the end of the year. Peck tells KVOE News his community roots were a big key to his showing.
Mott says he was satisfied with the results and the current Planning and Appeals Board member says he is looking forward to serving the county in other ways.
Both Bartel and McClelland thanked their supporters and expressed appreciation for the election process after the results were announced.
Peck now will likely take on Democrat Ronald McCoy in the general election this fall, while Martin is in position to go unopposed in the general election.
Across the KVOE listening area, two incumbent sheriffs were trailing at the end of Tuesday’s counting. Morris County Sheriff Scott Coover trailed Jay Simecka 357-312, while longtime Osage County Sheriff Laurie Dunn was well behind Chris Wells 1,955-1,154. Chase County Sheriff Rich Dorneker is well ahead of challenger Tim Kamholz 579-262. In Coffey County, where two candidates stepped forward to replace the retiring Randy Rogers, Tom Johnson is ahead of Michael Roney 1,474-925.
Other area incumbents were also trailing their challengers. Coffey County Treasurer Karen Maley was trailing both Richard Croll and Laura Hawkins. In Osage County, District 2 Commissioner Gaylord Anderson was behind challenger Heather Kuder, while District 3 Commissioner Ken Kuykendall was behind Jay Vernon Bailey in his three-way race also involving Brandon Smith.
For the Kansas Legislature areawide:
*House 51st District Republican incumbent Ron Highland leads newcomer Gary Schuetz 3,270-1,297
*House 76th District Republican incumbent Eric Smith leads newcomer Robert Harmon 1,438-1,107. Smith is in line to serve as both a legislator and Coffey County’s undersheriff based on Tuesday’s vote.
*Senate 14th District Republican Michael Fagg is ahead of incumbent Bruce Givens 6,085 to 4,923.
*Senate 20th District Republican Brenda Dietrich is leading incumbent Eric Rucker 4,783-3,728
For the US Senate seat occupied currently by the retiring Pat Roberts:
*On the Republican side, Roger Marshall has roughly 38 percent of the vote, ahead of Kris Kobach’s 27 percent. Bob Hamilton was third with 20 percent. No other candidate got more than seven percent.
*On the Democrat side, Barbara Bollier got 87 percent of the vote, easily defeating Robert Tillman.
For US House District 1, also known as the Big First and representing Lyon and most surrounding counties:
*Tracey Mann outpaced Bill Clifford on the Republican side with 53 percent. Clifford had 34 percent.
*Kali Barnett got 63 percent of the vote on the Democrat side, defeating Christy Cauble Davis
For US House District 2, representing Coffey and Osage counties:
*Jake LaTurner has a 49-34 percent lead over incumbent Steve Watkins on the Republican side.
*Michelle de la Isla got 75 percent of the Democrat vote to defeat James Windholz.
Attention now turns to the rest of the week, where the Lyon County Election Office will have daily updates on the mail ballots that come in between now and Friday. County Clerk Tammy Vopat expects results by early afternoon each day through Friday.
The Lyon County Election Office sent out 3,711 mail ballots. Almost 2,700 were returned as of Tuesday. Initial turnout is 29.63 percent.
