News : Benton County fails to see a Blue Wave in Voters

Benton County voters for the most part, chose to vote Republican. (To see the unofficial results for the county, click here ) Some of the time the state agreed with us and a few times they didn't. (To see state results click here) A breakdown of how we voted vs. how the state voted, is as follows. In Benton County, we would have chosen a Republican as our US Representative for District 1. Rod Blum received 6,460 votes to Abby Finkenauer's 4,696 votes. However, statewide, Rod Blum was defeated. At the state level they also voted for Kim Reynolds 6,839 to Hubbell's 4,481 votes, and Reynolds, our first elected female governor, was successful. For Secretary of State, Benton County chose Paul Pate with 7,325 to Deidra DeJear's 3,856 votes, and the rest of the state agreed with that choice. Auditor of the State also went to a Republican if Benton County were to choose, we wanted to elected Mary Mosiman with 6,001 votes over Rob Sand's 5,110 votes. However, Sand, a Democrat, won the seat statewide. Treasurer of the State, if Benton County were to choose, went to another Republican Jeremy Davis by a slimmer margin of 5,697 votes to the incumbent Michael Fitzgerald's 5,369. The state disagreed with us on this vote, and put Democrat Michael Fitzgerald back in office. Secretary of Agriculture also went to a Republican in our county. Mike Naig had 6,649 votes and Tim Gannon only received 4,333, The state agreed with Benton County and put Naig in office. Tom Miller the Democrat who is the state's Attorney General, soundly defeated the challenger Marco Battaglia a Libertarian by a vote of 7,392 to 2,599 in Benton County and Miller also won across the state. Iowa's State Representative, District 75, Tom Gerhold[/caption] In our District 75, for State Representative, Republican Tom Gerhold defeated challenger Paula Denison with a 6,871 to 4,204 vote. He will be sworn in when the Iowa Legislature starts their new session in January. Benton County Supervisor, District 1, Tracy Seeman[/caption] The Benton County Supervisor District 1 seat, vacated by Todd Wiley, was won by Republican Tracy Seeman with a vote of 6,316 to Scott Hepker's 4,997 votes. The County Treasurer and Country Recorder were unchallenged seats so Kelly Geater will continue as the Treasurer and Lexa Speidel as the Recorder, both Republicans. County Attorney David Thompson, a Democrat was also unchallenged so will retain his seat. There were several unchallenged Trustee races throughout the county but In Canton Township there was one contested race, between Dustin Maynard and Steven Mason. Maynard won with a vote of 191 to 107. The 5 elected County Agricultural Extension Council Members were as follows: John Holst 5,462 Brian McNulty 5,304 Susan Birker 4,861 Allison Hicks 4,655 Katie Sacket-Stadheim 4,473