Except for turnout, no surprises in Tuesday's election results

About the only thing that didn’t go as expected in the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 8, was the turnout in Jefferson County.

County Clerk Ken Waller had predicted that as many as 65 percent of the county’s more than 160,000 voters would turn out at the polls, but that prognostication fell far short.

In final, unofficial tallies, Tuesday’s election generated a 45.5 percent turnout.

Waller based his forecast on recent history. In the most recent presidential midterm election in 2018, 59.6 percent of Jefferson Countians turned out.

He also pointed to a statewide constitutional amendment to allow the use of recreational marijuana.

“I really thought we’d get more people out for the marijuana question,” Waller said. “While 45 percent isn’t bad historically, I thought it would be more this time. But even with that, in a conservative county like Jefferson County, we approved it.”

Jefferson County voters turned thumbs-up on the recreational marijuana question, 55 percent to 45 percent.

In partial statewide returns, the fate of the recreational marijuana question looked as if it would be approved.

Otherwise, things went about as most would predict in a county that once was considered a swing county when it came to national and statewide races but lately has been trending strong for Republicans.

“This election shows you how strong the Republican Party is in Jefferson County – good, bad or indifferent,” Waller said. “None of the races were even close. Jefferson County showed itself to be a solid Republican county, unfortunately for the Democrats on the ballot.”

The results on Tuesday bore that out, as incumbent County Executive Dennis Gannon, a Republican, outpolled his Democratic challenger, Fran Newkirk, 69.31 percent to 30.45 percent.

In the only other countywide race, longtime County Clerk staffer Jeannie Goff will succeed Waller, as she garnered 68.66 percent of the vote to 31.18 percent for Democratic challenger Tracy Johnson, who also works in the office.

Waller was working his last election after four years as County Clerk to chase a seat in the Missouri House of Representatives. He easily defeated Democrat Jessie Shepherd in District 114 by a 2-to-1 margin (67.29 percent to 32.56 percent), while in the only other contested race for the state House in Jefferson County, incumbent Cyndi Buchheit-Courtway, a Republican, outpaced Democratic challenger Barbara Marco, 72.09 percent to 27.82 percent.

For the only contested seat on the Jefferson County Council, District 1 incumbent Brian Haskins fought off a challenge by a registered write-in candidate, Steve Kasten.

Waller said it could be as late as Monday before a verification team can tally up how many votes Kasten received.

“He (Kasten) knew that going in, that he wasn’t going to know that immediately. You can’t assume that he got all 3,300 write-in votes in that race, but you have to give the guy credit. He and his people worked it (the campaign) to the best of their ability.”

The two St. Louis County state House districts in the Leader’s coverage area followed the same pattern of heavily favoring the GOP. In District 88, Republican Holly Jones garnered 61 percent percent of the vote to Democrat Kyle Luzinski’s 39 percent. and in District 110, Republican Justin Sparks defeated Democrat Josh Thackston, 64 percent to 36 percent.

Sparks was recruited by the St. Louis County Republican Committee after Bruce DeGroot, a six-year veteran of the state House, withdrew from the general election at the last minute.

The state Senate seat representing the northern half of Jefferson County, District 22, showed a similar result, as former state Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, a Republican, outpolled Democrat Benjamin Hagin by a margin that was nearly 2-to-1.

The race for state Senate District 26, which takes in four counties plus parts of west St. Louis County, ended up similarly, with Republican Ben Brown pulling down 74 percent of the vote to Democrat John Kiehne’s 26 percent.

Maybe the only unpredictable election involved Jefferson County’s sole local ballot issue. Although the vast majority of tax-related issues went down to defeat in April and August, the Rock Township Ambulance District found favor with voters on Tuesday with Proposition Reduced Property Taxes, a 1/4-cent sales tax increase tied to a property tax rollback. The measure, which required a simple majority, easily passed, 59.26 percent to 40.74 percent.

All three Republican incumbents running for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives won new terms: Ann Wagner in District 2, Blaine Luetkemeyer in District 3 and Jason Smith in District 8.