Of the five countywide offices featuring an incumbent and at least one challenger, four of the current officeholders won the right to represent the Republican Party in the November general election. All won by convincing margins, according to final, unofficial results.
County Executive Dennis Gannon, Circuit Clerk Mike Reuter, Recorder of Deeds Debbie Dunnegan Waters, Collector Michelle Worth and Auditor Kristy L. Apprill all won new four-year terms.
Only Gannon will face a Democratic challenger in November, Fran Newkirk.
Turnout on Tuesday was about average for an August primary election, with 39,969, or 25.2 percent, of the county’s 158,840 voters casting ballots. In St. Louis County, the turnout was a little higher at 27.9 percent.
Two years ago, 27 percent of Jefferson County voters turned out to vote in August, but the recent high-water mark was the August 2018 primary election, which attracted 40.24 percent of the electorate when a right-to-work initiative was on the ballot.
The tepid turnout favored incumbents, said County Clerk Ken Waller, who chose not to run for another four-year term but instead ran for and won his Republican primary race for the District 114 seat in the state House of Representatives. He will face Democrat Jessie Shepherd in November.
“I am a little disappointed by only 25 percent, given the race for state Senate at the top of the ballot,” Waller said. “But with turnout the way it was, that’s always going to favor the incumbents because they’ve got the name recognition. My opponent (on Tuesday), Ann Moloney, worked very hard to overcome that, but in the end, I think more people know my name.”
The only current countywide officeholder to lose on Tuesday was Dianna Bartels, who was lost a second six-year term as Div. 3 circuit judge to challenger Travis Partney, the county's first assistant prosecuting attorney and former associate circuit judge. No Democrats filed for that seat, so Partney will be sworn in to the seat in January.
Two of the countywide races were for open seats, and Jeannie Goff, the veteran chief of staff in the County Clerk’s office, won one of them, easily defeating challenger Jeremy Day to succeed Waller.
“While Jeannie was not an incumbent per se, she’s been around a long time and a lot of people know her name, too,” Waller said.
The other open countywide seat was for Div. 11 associate circuit judge, and the county’s current municipal judge, Julianne “Juli” Platz Hand, came out on top of a field of four. She also will run unopposed in November.
The incumbency pattern didn’t hold true for County Council seats, as current members Phil Hendrickson (District 3) and Victoria Goad James (District 5) were unseated by Shannon Otto and Bob Tullock, respectively. A District 5 seat left open after Tracey Perry resigned in April will be filled by Scott Seek, who won over two other candidates.
The race for the District 1 seat was the most competitive of the evening, with incumbent Brian Haskins and challengers Kenneth Merrill and Elizabeth A. Sergel surging out to the lead at different points of the evening. Haskins prevailed for a second four-year term, collecting 34.1 percent of the vote in the four-candidate field.
Local races for spots in the Missouri Legislature largely were for open seats because of term limits. Holly Jones (District 88), David Casteel (District 97) and Gary Bonacker (District 111) all won by relatively good-sized margins. Casteel and Bonacker will run unopposed in November, while Jones will face Democrat Kyle Luzynski, who ran unopposed on Tuesday.
It was a different story in District 113, where Terry Burgess and Phil Amato traded the lead for most of the evening until a late surge by Amato, a longtime Arnold councilman, put him on top, with 53.16 percent to Burgess’ 46.84 percent. Amato also will face no opposition in November.
The open seat for District 22 in the state Senate also was hotly contested, with four current or former state representatives seeking the Republican nod.
Mary Elizabeth Coleman won, outperforming Dan Shaul, Shane Roden and Jeff Roorda. Coleman will will face Democrat Benjamin Hagin in the November general election.
In District 26, Ben Brown of Washington outpaced the other four Republicans candidates for an open seat and will take on Democrat John Kiehne of Pacific in November.
For seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, incumbents Ann Wagner (District 2), Blaine Luetkemeyer (District 3) and Jason Smith (District 8) all cruised to victory in their Republican primaries. All will face challengers in November. Democrats Trish Gunby (District 2) and Bethany Mann (District 3) won their contested primary elections.
The North Jefferson County and Big River ambulance districts and the Hillsboro R-3 School District again sought approval of ballot measures after voters turned them down in the April municipal election. The ambulance districts saw their issues pass, but the school district measure failed again.
All three ballot issues required a 4/7ths majority (57.14 percent) for approval.
Hillsboro R-3’s request for a $25 million bond issue failed by a narrow margin, garnering 56.64 percent of the vote.
North Jefferson County’s $21 million request passed with 59.7 percent voting in approval, and Big River’s $17 million proposition gained favor with 59.09 percent of the voters.
Final, official results from the Aug. 2 primary election. Winners in bold. Current officeholders listed with an (I). All races are for Republican nomination unless otherwise indicated. Ballot issues required a 4/7ths majority (57.14 percent) for passage.
HILLSBORO R-3 SCHOOL DISTRICT
PROPOSITION KIDS
$25 million bond issue
Yes 2,754 56.64%
No 2,108 43.36%
BIG RIVER AMBULANCE DISTRICT
PROPOSITION SAFETY
$17 million bond issue
Yes 2,720 59.09%
No 1,883 40.91%
NORTH JEFFERSON COUNTY AMBULANCE DISTRICT
PROPOSITION SAFETY
$21 million bond issue
Yes 2,847 59.70%
No 1,922 40.30%
CIRCUIT JUDGE, Division 3
Dianna Bartels (I) 5,794 22.71%
Travis Partney 14,940 58.56%
Michelle Hughes 4,778 18.73%
ASSOCIATE CIRCUIT JUDGE, Division 11
Jacob T. Costello 7,325 28.87%
Lucas Null 5,066 19.97%
Carl W. "Wes" Yates III 3,437 13.55%
Julianne "Juli" Platz Hand 9,544 37.62%
CIRCUIT CLERK
Mike Reuter (I) 16,520 65.15%
Gary W. Davis 8,837 34.85%
COUNTY EXECUTIVE
Dennis Gannon (I) 15,119 55.69%
Paul Wieland 12,029 44.31%
COUNTY COUNCIL
District 1
Kenneth Merrill 1,285 32.56%
Elijah Huddleston 342 8.66%
Brian Haskins (I) 1,346 34.10%
Elizabeth A. Sergel 974 24.68%
District 3
Johnathan M. Sparks 551 16.79%
Phil Hendrickson (I) 1,339 40.81%
Shannon Otto 1,391 42.40%
District 5
Scott Seek 1,380 38.71%
Tony Pousosa 888 24.91%
Robert "Bobby" Kaye 1,297 36.38%
District 7
Victoria Goad James (I) 1,000 21.71%
Bob Tullock 2,060 44.71%
Linda Schroeder 1,078 23.40%
Kim Parrish 469 10.18%
COUNTY CLERK
Jeannie Goff 17,753 67.81%
Jeremy Day 8,428 32.19%
RECORDER OF DEEDS
Debbie "Dunnegan" Waters (I) 16,614 64.27%
Jason Dutton 9,236 35.73%
COLLECTOR
Michelle Worth (I) 18,241 70.30%
Shannon Roden 7,705 29.70%
AUDITOR
Kristy L.Apprill (I) 16,305 64.58%
Michael S. Minicky 8,944 35.42%
MISSOURI HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
District 88
Nancy R. Stevens 1,429 35.57%
Holly Jones 2,588 64.43%
District 97
David Casteel 2,558 68.09%
Ryan Jones 1,199 31.91%
District 111
Gary Bonacker 2,811 52.07%
Christopher Ray 698 12.93%
Robert (Ragz) Falcone 501 9.28%
Cecelie Williams 1,388 25.71%
District 113
Terry Burgess 2,019 46.84%
Phil Amato 2,291 53.16%
District 114
Ken Waller 2,606 55.79%
Ann Moloney 2,065 44.21%
MISSOURI SENATE
District 22
Dan Shaul 5,093 23.32%
Shane Roden 3,886 17.79%
Mary Elizabeth Coleman 7,614 34.87%
Jeff Roorda 5,245 24.02%
District 26
Nate Tate 7,387 26.67%
Ben Brown 10,802 39.00%
Bob Jones 7,726 27.90%
Merry Noella-Skaggs 1,040 3.76%
Jason Franklin 741 2.68%
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
District 2
Democrats
Trish Gunby 50,420 85.24%
Ray Reed 8,733 14.76%
Republicans
Ann Wagner (I) 54,422 67.08%
Tony Salvatore 12,504 15.41%
Wesley Smith 7,313 9.01%
Paul Berry III 6,888 8.49%
District 3
Democrats
Jon Karlen 7,344 20.21%
Bethany Mann 22,621 62.25%
Andrew Daly 5,176 14.24%
Dylan Durrwachter 1,196 3.29%
Republicans
Brandon Wilkinson 15,784 16.55%
Blaine Luetkemeyer (I) 66,400 69.61%
Dustin Hill 11,593 12.15%
Richard Skwira Jr. 1,616 1.69%
District 8
Republicans
Jason Smith (I) 78,317 81.96%
Jacob Turner 17,240 18.04%