Republicans set races for Nov. 3 election

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Three Republican incumbents will have a shot of returning to their countywide offices after winning primary contests Tuesday.

The three include District 2 Jackson County Commissioner Bob Gillaspy of Seymour, who fended off a challenge from Dave Eggers and Kenny Pfaffenberger.

The two incumbents for at-large county council, Dave Hall of Norman and John Notling of Brownstown, and Republican Brett Turner of Crothersville won the three at-large nomination seats.

The final vote count in the commissioners race showed Gillaspy with 49.37% or 2,449 of the votes compared to 1,292 for Eggers and 1,220 for Pfaffenberger.

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“It was really hard to tell this year with everything going on,” Gillaspy said of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it limited most activities. “You couldn’t go out and shake hands and that type thing, and it was kind of hard to talk to people about putting a sign in the yard.”

Gillaspy said overall, he was happy with the confidence voters showed in giving him a win in the primary.

“It came out better than I expected,” he said.

Gillaspy said he now plans to review the turnout by precinct to find any shortcomings and work on fixing those.

“We’ll just crunch the numbers and see what the other party wants to do with me,” he said.

At this time, there are no Democratic candidates for any of the 10 county offices up for election Nov. 3, but the party has until June 30 to fill ballot vacancies.

Nolting, Hall and Turner defeated Seymour residents Thomas Joray and Woody DeZarn.

Nolting received the largest number of votes with 3,144, while Hall received 2,928 and Turner garnered 2,443. Joray received 2,331, and DeZarn received 1,709.

“I want to thank everyone who voted for me. I am humbled and honored for the support,” Nolting said. “I also want to thank everyone who came out to vote today by taking time out of their busy schedule to vote. Now, it is time to get back to work on the council. With COVID-19, we may have some tough decisions to make.”

Notling said he wanted to congratulate Hall and Turner for their victories and Joray and DeZarn for their willingness to run.

Turner was thrilled with the results.

“It feels good, man,” he said. “It has been an interesting experience. You know, this was my first time running for office, and everyone has been incredibly pleasant to me. This has been a pleasant experience.”

Turner said he plans to attend every county council meeting until the end of the year so he can stay informed on the issues surrounding the community.

Other contested election results involving Jackson County show incumbent state District 73 Rep. Steve Davisson of Salem losing by one vote, 345-344, in the county to challenger Mark Cox of Paoli. Results from the rest of the district, which includes parts or all of Washington, Orange, Lawrence and Clark counties, were not available at press time.

Democrat Andy Ruff of Bloomington also won a five-way race for the party’s nomination for the Ninth Congressional District in Jackson County. The final vote count here showed Ruff with 559, followed by Mark Powell of Whiteland with 456 votes; Brandon Hood of Bloomington with 305; D. Liam Dorris of Bloomington with 250; and James C. O’Gabhann III, a Tipton native who moved from Los Angeles, California, back to Indiana a year ago. with 90.

‘Pleased with the turnout’

Jackson 7 precinct voting took place at Seymour Christian Church. The voting inspector there was Bridey Jacobi.

“Things have going pretty steady today, and by early afternoon, 140 voters had come through,” she said. “I’ve also been disinfecting the voting area and equipment after each voter.”

Joe Miller was at the same location serving as poll judge and instructed people how to put their ballots into the machine if they needed assistance.

“I was a little surprised by how many people were wearing face masks today,” Miller said. “Over half of the people coming in to vote today have been wearing them.”

Calvary Baptist Church in Seymour, hosted Jackson 1 East and Redding-Seymour City precinct voters for the primary election.

Besides explaining the voting methods, poll judge Paul Kedrowitz was disinfecting every pen and stylus that was used as well as voting booths after each person came through.

Inspector Dwight Gregory said voting was running smoothly, and the machines worked well.

“By noon, we’d had about 163 voters come through,” he said. “That’s pretty good for a primary.”

He said some voters were wearing masks, but not all of them.

“We’ve had things set up a little differently with the voting booths spaced farther apart and we have plenty of hand sanitizer,” Gregory said. “I know there have been a lot of people who voted absentee, but we’re pleased with the turnout so far.”

Final vote totals for the Jackson County primary election

There were a total of 7,199 total voters. Of those who voted, 5,265 voted with Republican ballots, while 1,925 voted with Democratic ballots.

In the race for Jackson County District 2 Commissioner, Bob Gillaspy defeated Kenny Pfaffenberger and Dave Eggers , receiving 2,449 votes, or 49.37%. Eggers received 1,292 votes for 26.04%, and Pfaffenberger received 1,220 votes for 24.59%.

County council at-large candidates Dave Hall, John Nolting and Brett Turner defeated Woody DeZarn and Thomas Joray. Nolting received 3,144 votes for 25.04%, Hall received 2,928 votes for 23.32%, Turner received 2,443 votes for 19.46%, Joray received 2,331 votes for 18.57% and DeZarn received 1,709 votes for 13.61%.

Paul Foster defeated Ronald Cox in the race for county coroner. Foster received 2,730 votes for 56.57% of the total votes, while Cox received 2,096 for 43.43%.

The only other local contested race was for the Republican Jackson 6 precinct committeeman, which was won by Jessica Payne, who received 115 votes to 50 for Sherry L. Goad.

Additionally, Joe Biden received 77.17% of the votes for the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, and Donald Trump received 94.65% of the votes for the Republican Party’s presidential nominee.

Andy Ruff received the majority votes for the Democratic nominee for U.S. Representative District 9 with 33.67%.

Mark Cox received the majority of votes for Republican nominee for State Representative District 73 with 50.07%.

Jackson County results from uncontested Republican offices:

Governor: Eric Holcomb 4,759

Ninth District Congressman: Trey Hollingsworth 4,606

State Senator District 44: Eric Koch 3,591

State House District 65: Chris May 183

State House District 69: Jim Lucas 3,227

Jackson Superior Court I Judge: AmyMarie Travis 4,503

Auditor: Roger Hurt 4,523

Treasurer: Kathy Hohenstreiter 4,635

Surveyor: Dan Blann 4,430

County Commissioner District 2: Drew Markel 4,268

Jackson County results from uncontested Democratic offices:

Governor: Woodrow “Woody” Myers 1,602

State House District 65: Paula Staley 53

State House District 69: Jeffery W. Prewitt 1,337

Tribune reporter Lori McDonald also contributed to this story.

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