Newton County Chairman Aaron Varner managed to avoid a runoff in Tuesday's Republican primary by collecting nearly 54 percent of the vote.
Kathy Morgan narrowly missed avoiding a runoff with Hubert White in the Democratic Party's primary. She captured 49.99 percent of the vote to White's 39 percent.
"I feel very well," said a smiling Varner of the night's results, adding that he was looking forward to campaigning for the general election. "I certainly appreciate the people who supported me. It's very humbling experience."
Real estate broker Susette Monk collected the second largest amount of votes with 25 percent. Commercial developer Ed Hutter came in third with 21 percent. A total of 5,960 votes were cast in the Republican primary for chairman.
"I just have the utmost faith in the voters in Newton County," said Morgan of her runoff with local builder Hubert White. "I do think that this is a mandate that [the voters] are looking for change."
The third candidate in the Democratic primary, Emmett Denby, won approximately 11 percent of the vote. There were 4,133 votes cast in the Democratic primary for chairman
The runoff for the Democratic Party's nominee for county chairman will take place on August 5. Only those voters that voted in the Democratic general primary can vote in the runoff.
Results were unofficial as of press time and included 95.8 percent of the votes cast.
"I feel very well," said a smiling Varner of the night's results, adding that he was looking forward to campaigning for the general election. "I certainly appreciate the people who supported me. It's very humbling experience."
Real estate broker Susette Monk collected the second largest amount of votes with 25 percent. Commercial developer Ed Hutter came in third with 21 percent. A total of 5,960 votes were cast in the Republican primary for chairman.
"I just have the utmost faith in the voters in Newton County," said Morgan of her runoff with local builder Hubert White. "I do think that this is a mandate that [the voters] are looking for change."
The third candidate in the Democratic primary, Emmett Denby, won approximately 11 percent of the vote. There were 4,133 votes cast in the Democratic primary for chairman
The runoff for the Democratic Party's nominee for county chairman will take place on August 5. Only those voters that voted in the Democratic general primary can vote in the runoff.
Results were unofficial as of press time and included 95.8 percent of the votes cast.
District 3
The people have spoken and Keith Mitcham won the Republican nomination for the District 3 Board of Commissioners seat while Nancy Schulz and Jimmy Clark will face each other in a runoff after voting closed in Tuesday's primary elections.
The Democrats won't know who faces Mitcham until Aug. 5 after Jimmy Clark and Nancy Schulz split the majority of votes needed to declare a winner.
Clark garnered 564 of the 1375 or 41 percent of the casted votes while Schulz received 486 or 35 percent. In order to declare a clear winner, one candidate has to secure more than 50 percent.
Schulz said she was disappointed with the voter turnout but thanked the people who did vote.
"There were five candidates and we knew it would be split and probably be tough," Schulz said. "This is the first time for me and I am appreciative of those who came out and voted for me."
Meanwhile, Clark is happy to have an opportunity to face Schulz in the runoff in three weeks.
"I am quite pleased and I look forward to going on and winning in November," he said.
Mitcham won over Matthew Eason, gathering more than 70 percent of the votes. Out of 1,056 votes casted, Mitcham garnered 745 to Eason's 311.
"I guess being my first time through, it's a new experience and I kind of hoped going into it I would be successful," Mitcham said.
Mitcham added the race will take on a new face as soon as he finds out who he will face in November's general election.
"They are both going to be tough to beat," he said of Schulz and Clark. "My district is basically split with the Democrat vote."
District 5
In the District 5 Board of Commissioners Republican primary, Tim Fleming received nearly twice as many votes as John Travis, winning the right to run against Democratic candidate Randy Vinson in the November election.
Fleming won 1,079 votes, or 63.92 percent, in his district, to Travis's 609 votes, or 36.08 percent.
This was the first campaign for Fleming, 26, a government and regulatory affairs director for KLiP Communications and the son of outgoing District 3 commissioner Ester Fleming.
"We've worked hard and had a lot of good supporters," Fleming said. "We're just taking a positive message out there.
"They rewarded me tonight and we've got to keep trucking to November," he said.
He faces Vinson, who ran unopposed for the Democratic primary, in the general election.
Travis, 58, a retired consultant and currently a real estate appraiser, said he had already congratulated Fleming Tuesday night while the results were being read off. "I appreciate the fact I've been treated with nothing but respect by the Flemings," he said. "Tim's a fine young man and will make a fine candidate."
The tally was still unofficial as of Tuesday night, with 95.83 percent of the votes counted, not including absentee ballots. About 21 percent of registered voters turned out for the primary, which had an unusually high number of candidates.
