Koenig edges Reiser in County Supervisor race, Hager tops Engle for Iowa House District 56 nomination in June 7 Primary
The Tuesday, June 7 Primary Election yielded a turn-out of 17.38% of eligible area voters as 1,723 ballots were cast by Allamakee County residents. Republicans carried a majority of that vote, as 1,374 of that total were Republican ballots, with that party having the more locally contested races in this year's Primary, as opposed to the only contested Democratic races this year being at the federal level of government on the Allamakee County ballot.
Within the most local contested race, the Republican nomination for one Allamakee County Board of Supervisors seat, incumbent Dennis Koenig of Postville held off a challenge by Mark Reiser of Lansing by 57 total votes. Koenig garnered 709 votes, with Reiser ending up with 652 votes and carrying four of the 11 precincts.
The breakdown by precinct for that Allamakee County Board of Supervisors race on the Republican ballot can be found in the colored chart below.
Additional Allamakee County offices up for election this year and listed on Tuesday's Primary ballot featured those of Auditor and Sheriff, with neither incumbent facing any Primary challenge. Auditor Denise Beyer tallied 1,139 votes in her bid for retaining the Republican nomination, with Sheriff Clark Mellick garnering 1,217 votes to do likewise. None of those County offices on this year's Primary ballot had any Democrat officially declared as a candidate.
IOWA HOUSE DISTRICT 56
In the only other race on this year's Primary ballot featuring Allamakee County residents as candidates, Kristi Hager of Dorchester and Lowell Engle of Harpers Ferry squared off in an effort to gain the Republican nomination for the District 56 seat in the Iowa House of Representatives. Among Allamakee County voters, Hager won nearly 71% of the vote, 942-390 over Engle, with that trend carrying over into District 56 (which includes a majority of Clayton County as well) as a whole to show a 1,223-497 margin for Hager. She will now square off in the November General Election against incumbent Democrat Patti Ruff, who was uncontested in her bid to maintain her party's nomination for the District 56 seat.
IOWA SENATE DISTRICT 28
The other state-level office on this year's Primary ballot for Allamakee County voters was for District 28 of the Iowa Senate. Incumbent Michael Breitbach of Strawberry Point was unopposed in maintaining the Republican nomination for the seat, while Democrat Jan Heikes of Decorah was also without opposition in seeking her party's nod for the seat. Those two will now face off in the November General Election.
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 1
The two federal offices on this year's Primary ballot featured unopposed incumbent candidates on the Republican side of the coin, with contested races for each on the Democratic ticket. U.S. District 1 incumbent Representative Rod Blum had no challenger in Tuesday's election, but on the Democratic side for that office, Monica Vernon topped Pat Murphy to earn that party's nomination for the office. Vernon's edge of 223-115 (66% of the vote) among Allamakee County voters was amplified a bit more at the state level, where she carried a margin of 20,971-10,071 (67.5%). She and Blum will square off in November's General Election.
U.S. SENATE
Similarly in the U.S. Senate race, incumbent Republican Charles Grassley had no opposition within his own party, but the Democratic ballot had four candidates vying for that nomination and the opportunity to challenge Grassley in November. Winning that Democratic nomination was Patty Judge over Robert Hogg, Bob Krause and Thomas Fiegen. In Allamakee County, Judge won 66.97% of the vote (221 votes) in comparison to Hogg's 21.52% (71 votes), Krause's 7.27% (24 votes) and Fiegen's 4.24% (14 votes). Judge did not gain as much favor statewide, but still won the nomination with 47.6% of the vote (46,107 votes), with Hogg closing the gap on her at 38.9% (37,680 votes), and Fiegen leap-frogging Krause among statewide voters at nearly equal percentages just below seven with 6,558 votes and 6,406 votes, respectively.
