Sheriff, district attorney reelected

By: Toni Walker

Editor of The Steel Country Bee

news@steelcountrybee.com

With Super Tuesday completed, several local, uncontested races have been decided. State races, as well as the presidential race, will be decided in the general election, which will be held in November.

Morris County Sheriff Jack Martin ran, uncontested, for election on the Democratic ticket for re-election. Due to no one running in opposition on the Republican ticket, Martin will continue as Sheriff. Also winning re-election in an uncontested race was District Attorney Steve Cowan. Cowan also drew no opponents on either ticket, securing his re-election. The final uncontested county race was that of Tax Assessor-Collector. The seat is currently held by Kim Thomasson, and due to the lack of challengers, she will retain her position.

Two County positions will be on the ballot in November. Precinct 1 incumbent Dennis Allen will run on the Democratic Party ticket, while Mike Rogers will run for the position on the Republican ticket. In the Feb. 18 edition of The Steel Country Bee, there was a misprint of information. The article incorrectly identified Dennis Allen as running unopposed on the Republican ticket. Allen is running unopposed in the Democratic primary, while Mike Rogers is running, unopposed, in the Republican primary. The article listed Allen as having 25-plus years of business experience in Lone Star. That information should be attributed to Rogers, as he has owned Lone Star Lube since 1995.

Also to be decided in the November election will be the position of Precinct 3 commissioner. Incumbent Michael Clair will face Republican challenger Justin Cobb. Constable of Precinct 2 was decided in the primary, with Republican Kerry McCoy running unopposed.

As far as county-wide results for major state races and the presidential nomination from each party, most races only saw parties from one candidate on the primary ballots. For the position of State Representative for District 5, Cole Hefner took 733 votes, or 48.96 percent of the votes. His closest challenger was Randy Davis, who mustered 305 votes, or 20.37 percent. In the race for State Senator of District 1, Bryan Hughes took 59.43 percent, or 958 votes, followed by David Simpson, at 22.02 percent, or 355 votes.

In the race for United States Representative, District 4, John Ratcliffe easily won re-election with 1,142 votes, or 71.15 percent. Lou Gigliotti was Ratcliffe’s nearest opponent, bringing in 308 votes, or 19.19 percent.

Morris County’s choice for the Republican nomination for president was Ted Cruz, who gained 804 votes, representing 44.52 percent. Donald Trump was the nearest competitor, garnering 33.67 percent, or 608 votes. There were five uncommitted votes in the Republican primary.

Hillary Clinton was Morris County’s Democratic choice, followed by Bernie Sanders. Clinton received 71.35 (488 votes) percent of the vote, while Sanders brought in 24.71 percent, or 169 votes.

Overall, in Morris County, there were 1,815 Republican ballots cast, and 735 Democratic ballots cast. There were 2,550 total ballots cast, compared to 8,446 registered voters, which demonstrates a 30.19 percent voter turnout for Morris County.