(Southeastern IN) – The people have spoken, and we now know who will be holding local offices following Tuesday’s General Election.
In Ripley County’s contested races, Stephanie Back, Andrew Decker, and Peg Ehlers were elected to the three County Council At-Large seats. And Jay Gayheart beat out Jim Westerman, Cory Whalbring and Nancy Redelman for the At-Large seat on the Jac-Cen-Del School Board.
In Decatur County, Rick Nobbe, Bill Metz and Ernie Gauck were elected to the three County Council At-Large seats. Democrat Melanie Hoffman was also running for one of the At-Large spots council. The winners in the three contested Decatur County School Board races were Elizabeth Lecher Hochstedler, Nicholas Anderson and Alison Ortman. Hochstedler took the District B race over David Henderson; Anderson takes the District C race over Amber Smith, and it was Ortman over Dustin Bryan Barkdoll in District D.
Current county councilmember Jeff Koch will be the new Franklin County Commissioner representing District 3. Koch overwhelmingly won the job over Democrat Glenn Bailey; Rob Seig was re-elected Surveyor by a wide margin over challenger Howard Hughes, and Republicans Glen Bischoff, Carroll Lanning and Brian Patterson were the top three vote getters in the County Council At-Large race over Democrats Christina Persson and Monica Yane. Gregg Burris won the Franklin County School Board District 1 race over Duane Harrison, while former high school principal Kim Simonson eked out a win in a four-way race for the District 2 school board seat. It was Simonson with 31.90% of the vote; Debbie White garnered 31.74%; Sean Berns finished at 23% and Bill Hodge ended up with 14% of the vote.
The Dearborn County Council At-Large winners were Republicans Mark Dole, Tim Doll and Glenn Wright. Dawn Victor and Hunter Collins were the Democratic candidates in that race. Kelli Gentrup-Pettit wins the District 2 seat on the South Dearborn School Board over Steven Hamlett, and Regina Rybolt is the winner in the Lawrenceburg School Board District 1 race over Fayla Nanz.
It was a big night for Republicans in the Hoosier State, as well.
Sen. Mike Braun will be Indiana’s next Governor. He defeated Democrat Jennifer McCormick and Libertarian Donald Rainwater by a wide margin. Braun will succeed the term-limited Eric Holcomb as the state’s chief executive.
Third District Congressman Jim Banks was elected U.S. Senator. He defeated Democrat Valerie McCray and Libertarian Andrew Horning. Banks succeeds Braun, who chose to run for governor.
Todd Rokita was re-elected Indiana Attorney General over Democratic challenger Destiny Wells.
Republican Erin Houchin wins re-election in the Ninth Congressional District over Democrat Tim Peck and Libertarian candidate Russ Brooksbank.
As for Indiana House races, Lindsay Patterson was re-elected in District 55 following a challenge from Democrat Victoria Martz. Republican Jennifer Meltzer wins another term in House District 73 with almost 77% of the vote over challenger Hollie Payton. First-time candidate Garrett Bascom is the winner in District 68 over Lisa Barker. The newly-minted Republican representative-elect will take the seat being vacated by the retiring Randy Lyness.
As expected, voter turnout was heavy across the area.
Fifty-nine percent of registered voters cast ballots in Ripley County.
Decatur County had a voter turnout of nearly 70%.
And 68% of Franklin County voters showed up at the polls with a record 5,583 votes cast during early in-person voting. Nearly 5,900 voters showed up at Franklin County’s vote centers on Election Day.
You can check Tuesday’s local, state and federal results on the 2024 Election Coverage page on wrbiradio.com.
