Allamakee County voters choose new leadership

Allamakee County voters made their voices heard in the November 6 General Election, with nearly 4,000 ballots cast on election day and over 3,000 absentee ballots submitted in the weeks before the election for a voter turnout of 71.5% of the county's 9,686 registered voters.
At the local level, voters chose Dennis Koenig, the Republican candidate for Allamakee County Supervisor, to replace incumbent Democrat Lennie Burke in a tight race, with Koenig garnering just over 51% of the final tally (3,459) and Burke 48% (3,245). Republican candidate for Allamakee County Auditor Denise Beyer came out ahead with nearly 43% of the votes (2,881), topping Democratic candidate Janice Thorson's 30% (2,072) and incumbent Pam Benjegerdes (nominated by petition) with 26% (1,757).
On the state level, Allamakee County voters chose Republican Michael Breitbach as their Senator for District 28 with 51% of the vote (3,413) over Democrat John Beard's 48% (3,251). A winner has yet to be declared in that race, however, as overall District vote totals are nearly evenly split with Breitbach leading by just 37 votes (14,791 to 14,754). Allamakee County voters also chose Republican Bob Hager with 59% of the vote (3,995) over Democrat Patti Ruff (40% with 2,758 votes) for State Representative for District 56. Ruff benefited from support in other areas of the District, however, winning the race by just over 300 votes (7,304 to 7,000).
Nationally, Allamakee County voters sided with other voters statewide in choosing to re-elect Democratic incumbents Barack Obama and Joe Biden as President and Vice President of the United States, with Allamakee voters preferring the Democrats by a 51% to 47% margin, compared to the statewide totals of 52% to 46%.
In the U.S. House District 1, Allamakee County voters chose Democrat Bruce Braley over Republican Ben Lange by a narrow margin, 49% to 48%, while district-wide Braley won the race by a comfortable margin of 57% to 42%.
In other local elections, Lansing voters chose Joe Strobel as their Mayor over Deb Volker by a 279-126 margin. A vacancy on the Lansing City Council also appeared on the ballot, but with no candidate declared, Ross Kolsrud earned that seat with 37 write-in votes, though it has not yet been reported whether or not Kolsrud will accept the position.
Running unopposed for the position of Allamakee County Sheriff, Clark Mellick garnered 5,405 votes.