GOP has strong showing

Jay County races swung in favor of Republicans Tuesday night as only one Democrat managed to hold on to a county position.
Republican Jason White won in the most closely contested race of the evening, topping Democrat Darin James for county coroner by a count of 3,851 to 3,776.
Elsewhere on the ballot, Republicans Cindy Newton and Jeanne Houchins picked up county council at-large seats in the six-candidate race, Jim Zimmerman defended his county commissioner south district seat and Brian Hutchison rolled to re-election for Judge of Jay Circuit Court.
The lone Democrat win of the evening went to Gary Theurer, who was the leading vote-getter in the six-way race for the seat on the county council.
In the only contested seat on the Jay School Board, challenger Kristi Betts was able to unseat incumbent Jim Sanders for the District 1 seat with a late surge as the last few precinct results were tallied.
Kirk Comer finished in third place in the three-candidate rate.
Jay Circuit Court Judge Brian Hutchison, a Republican, scored a comfortable victory over challenger Jill Gonzalez in a bid for a third six-year term, and GOP Jay County Commissioner Jim Zimmerman held off a challenge from Democrat James Brewster to earn a second term in office.
The mood at Democratic Headquarters started off cautiously optimistic. The 60 to 70 candidates and party members at the headquarters were excited and nervous, but liked the chances of their party.
As the night wore on, shaking of heads and frustration with predominantly Republican winners began to show.
Although Republicans dominated in local contests, losing just one head-to-head contest and claiming two of three at-large county council seats, there was palpable tension at GOP headquarters — especially as early results were announced.
In the close coroner race, White carried a slight advantage through 12 precincts before the predominantly Democrat precincts in Richland Township were counted. James surged in the area, claiming a 925 to 563 advantage in one Redkey and two Dunkirk precincts to take a lead.
But the final three precincts — Bearcreek, Penn and Madison — all favored the Republican, allowing White to reclaim a lead and come out with the 75-vote win.
White, an employee of Jay Emergency Medical Service who was on-duty Tuesday night but stayed throughout the evening at Republican headquarters, said he went through a roller-coaster of emotions during a back-and-forth tight contest with James in the race — White’s first try for public office.
The two graduated within one year of each other from Jay County High School, and White said he has respect for his opponent.
“It was a good clean race. I’ve got a lot of respect for Darin. Myself or Darin would have been a good person for the job,” said White.
James sat stoically for most of the night, surrounded by friends and family who would celebrate or express frustration for him as he bounced in and out of the lead.
“It’s nerve-wracking,” he said. “It’s just that.”
A surge in Richland Township also helped Betts unseat Sanders in the school board race.
Betts claimed a 608-361-286 advantage in the three Richland precincts over Sanders and Comer to secure the lead and also went on to win the final three precincts that were counted to close out the race, winning with 2,685 votes to Sanders’ 2,465 and 1,749 for Comer.
In the six-candidate county council at-large race, Theurer, an incumbent was the lead vote-getter in the race, capturing 4,259 (19.98 percent) of the vote.
“As incumbent, you hope … as long as you did a good job, didn’t screw up, you (get re-elected),” said Theurer after being declared the winner.
Cindy Newton finished second with 3,727 and Jeanne Houchins won the third seat with 3,513. Republicans picked up one seat on the council, maintaining the seat being vacated by Marilyn Coleman but also stealing one seat currently held by Dru Hall, who was seated to replace Dan Orr after he was killed in a motorcycle accident earlier this year.
“I’m just excited that I put myself out there and did it,” said Newton, who is married to second-term Jay County Sheriff Ray Newton. “Everybody should try.”
Hall finished fourth in the tabulation with 3,368 votes. Hall eclipsed Houchins after strong results in Redkey and Dunkirk (his town of residence), but wasn’t able to hold onto the lead as Newton and Houchins outpaced him in Bearcreek, Penn and Madison precincts.
Democrat Josh Gibson was fifth with 3,284 and Gene Ritter was sixth with 3,168.
Votes in the council race were pretty evenly divided, with the difference between Theurer and Ritter sitting at slightly more than 5 percent of the vote.
“I’m more disappointed for some of these young guys,” Hall said after being defeated in the race.
Gibson, despite the defeat, plans to take another run at public office in the future.
“You can count me in for next time,” said Gibson.
In the race for commissioner of the south district, Zimmerman was re-elected 4,366 to 3,207, with Brewster claiming two of 16 precincts and running close in several Wayne Township polls.
Hutchison easily retained his position as Jay Circuit Court Judge, beating Gonzalez 5,022 to 2,842 and winning all 18 precincts to become the first Jay Circuit Court judge to win a third term in office since the circuit court was created in the late 1800s.
 “I’m relieved,” Hutchison said after greeting a well-wisher. “I’d like to think I’m doing my best … I’m very honored. I’m glad it’s done. Campaigns aren’t fun.”
“I’m disappointed,” said Jill Gonzalez. “I ran a clean campaign and I’m proud of it.”
Unopposed Republican candidates winning re-election included Ellen Coats, clerk; Robin Alberson, treasurer; Brad Daniels, surveyor; and Faron Parr, commissioner north district.
Incumbents Mike Master and Greg Wellman also were re-elected to their seats on the Jay School Board in unopposed races.[[In-content Ad]]