Following Tuesday’s primary elections, Logan Countians have a much better grasp of who their governmental leaders will be for the next four years.
We knew that we will have a new judge-executive, county clerk and jailer, since multi-term incumbents did not seek those offices for another tour of duty. Two of their successors were chosen by Republican voters Tuesday while a third winner in the GOP Primary still has to face a Democratic challenger in November’s General Election.
Phil Baker, who currently is the Loan County Board of Education member representing the Chandlers district, will be the new Logan County Judge-Executive. He received slightly over half the votes in a field that included current Jailer Phil Gregory, who finished second. Baker is the first county judge elected as a Republican since the late James Bailey in the mid-80s. He will succeed four-term judge-executive Logan Chick, who is retiring from public office.
Stacy Watkins emerged from a strong field of candidates to be elected county clerk. She knows a lot about the role of the clerk, since she has worked several years in the office of Scotty Harper, who decided not to run again. She got 46.5 percent of the vote with Phil Cole second, Terrie Lawson third and Tim Hopkins fourth.
No Democrat filed to run for either of those offices.
Deputy Sheriff Joshua Toomey was the winner in a highly competitive Republican jailer’s race to succeed Gregory. He received 41 percent of the vote ahead of Scott Blackford and Bennie Kinney. Toomey will go against Johnny Anderson in November. Anderson was unopposed in the Democratic primary.
With 63 percent of the votes, Timothy Rainwaters won the Republican primary for Property Valuation Administration over Ray Wilson. He faces incumbent Democrat Brooke Brown Waldrup in the General Election.
At least half of Logan Fiscal Court will change next year. Long-serving magistrates Jack Crossley and Barry Joe Wright announced before the filing deadline that they wouldn’t seek reelection. Then in a rematch of the 2018 Republican Primary, Ann Churchill Crawford defeated incumbent Fifth District Magistrate Robert Earl Chyle. Since no Democrat is running, Crawford will take over the office in January.
Democratic incumbents Tyler Davenport and Thomas Bouldin won their primaries, but face Republican opposition in the fall. In a rematch of the General Election four years ago, Davenport will face Dickie Carter, who has held the office several terms. Bouldin will go against Republican Nicholas Scarbrough. Carter defeated Connie Thompson Tuesday while Bouldin and Scarbrough were unopposed in their primaries.
The sixth member of fiscal court, Jason Harper, is the only current magistrate guaranteed to keep his position. He was unopposed in both the primary and general elections.
Chris Wilcutt is the Republican nominee for Third District magistrate, succeeding Wright. He received 62 percent of the vote. His November opponent will be Democrat Cliff Kennedy Jr.
Jamie Goodwin won the GOP Primary for Second District magistrate, getting more than twice as many votes as the second-place finisher in a field of five candidates. She and Democrat Rob Williams will face off in November for the seat now held by Crossley.
Second District Congressman Brett Guthrie won his portion of Logan County easily, while U.S, Senator Rand Paul and nationally known Democrat Charlies Booker won their primaries in Logan County for the seat Paul holds.
County Attorney Joe Ross had no opposition in either party and will retain his position, nor did Circuit Judge Joe Hendricks, District Judge Ken Williams, State Senator Mike Wilson and State Representative Jason Petrie.
Sheriff Stephen Stratton will be opposed by Republican Dewayne Whittaker in the General Election, and Coroner Mary Givens will be opposed by the GOP’s Ben Kemplin at the same time.
Elections for some of the leadership roles in the county’s four cities, two boards of education and two conservation district commissioners will be held in the fall.
Turnout for the primaries was very low at just over 20 percent (3,926 ballots cast of 19,046 registered voters.)
WRUS’ Chris McGinnis covered the election results extensively both on air and on Facebook. See the WRUS Radio Facebook page for vote totals for all candidates.