It came down to one vote standing between victory and defeat in the 10th District as Carolyn Miller was elected to the Warren County Commission, edging Cole Taylor for the district’s second spot by one push of the button.
Miller, who long served as the county’s tax assessor, finished with 227 votes to 226 for Taylor. She will join incumbent Gary Prater in representing the Centertown district as Prater led all vote-getters there with 246 votes. Incumbent Joel Akers got 143 votes and was not reelected after serving one term. Miller and Prater will be elected to the district’s two spots on the commission as they face no opposition in the general election in August.
In the 9th District, Democrats Wayne Copeland and Connie Bouldin Patrick were the two top vote-getters receiving 261 and 239 votes, respectively. Brian Caten finished third and will not advance as only the two top spots get to compete in August. They will advance to face Republicans Steven Helton and Donna Reid, who won Republican nominations without opposition, and independent candidate Carlene Brown.
Things had less riding on them in the other primaries.
In the 1st District, Ronald S. Lee and David Rhea will be elected as they face no opposition in August. The same is true in the 4th District where Teddy Boyd and Blaine Wilcher won without contest.
Billy Earl Jones and Charles Morgan had the same distinction in the 6th District where they won the Democratic Primary without opposition and will face no contest in August. Morris Bond and Terry L. Bell will win election in the 11th District as they are only two running.
Meanwhile, in the 2nd District, Carl E. Bouldin and Diane Starkey will defend their seats after facing no opposition during the primary. They will face Justin Rich and Melissa Moore Hollis in August.
In the 3rd District, Ken Martin and George Smartt also advanced without Democratic opposition and will face James Crouch and Michael Shane Wilcher in the general election. The same can be said in the 5th District where neither Michael Martin nor Melissa Yancy were challenged in the Democratic Primary. They will face Jerome Dillard, Marlena Lawson and Raymond T. Holland in August.
In the 7th District, Gary C. Martin and Tommy G. Savage had no competition in the Democratic Primary. They will face three independents in August when Terry (Tegy) Jaco, Susan C. Rogers and Jason Satterwhite hit the ballot. None of the five are incumbents meaning the district will get two brand new commissioners.
The 8th District saw no Democrats run, Instead, Scott Rubley emerged uncontested from the Republican Primary to face independents Randy England, Pat Brown and incumbent Dwight O’Neal in the general election.
In the 12th District, Kenny Roberts and incumbent Les Trottman won without opposition in the Democratic Primary. They advance to face a large field of independents including Carl Douglas Bouldin, Greg Bowdoin, Tommy Davenport and John Travis Whitehead.