Horn, Monroe win

The county was guaranteed at least one new Republican nominee for county commissioner.

It will get two.

Jay County voters overwhelmingly favored Doug Horn and Duane Monroe over former  commissioner Mike Leonhard and incumbent commissioner Brian McGalliard for the GOP nominations in the north and south districts, respectively, in Tuesday’s primary election. 

Meanwhile, incumbent Dave Haines was bumped out in the Jay County Council race for three at-large nominations, narrowly finishing behind Bryan Alexander while incumbent Matt Minnich and former Portland City Council member Michael Brewster led the GOP field.

In the other contested race for a county office nomination, Jonelle Foreman defeated Jon Eads for the Republican nod for treasurer.

Early voting results that were released shortly after the polls closed at 6 p.m. showed both Horn and Monroe leading by about a two-to-one margin over their opponents. That pattern held as results from the precincts came in over the next two hours.

Horn, a first-time candidate, ended up with the more dominating triumph, winning every precinct and racking up 1,992 votes compared to 848 for Leonhard, a former three-term commissioner and longtime county council member. He earned 70.14% of the vote.

“I just want to say thanks for all the encouragement," Horn told local Republicans gathered at John Jay Center for Learning. “Now we’ve got a little work to do.”

“I feel real good about it,” he added later, noting that he didn’t know what to expect having never run for office before. “I think the county’s ready to get back to working together and move us forward.”

Horn is currently uncontested for the general election. (Incumbent Republican Rex Journay chose not to seek a second term.)

Monroe, in a rematch with McGalliard from four years earlier, won 16 of 18 precincts. McGalliard picked up victories on his home turf, winning 85-38 in Dunkirk 3 and 47-40 in Dunkirk 1.

The overall result was a 1,951-931 victory for Monroe as he got 67.7% of the vote.

“Thank you. It wasn’t just me,” said Monroe to those at the GOP gathering, thanking those who supported him. “It took us all to do this.”

“I think it made a statement to the people that’s already in office,” he added later. “I feel good about it.”

Monroe lost to McGalliard by 243 votes in the 2020 primary with Barb Street third in the three-way race. He moves on to face Blake Watson, who was uncontested in the Democrat primary Tuesday, in the general election.

For the GOP county council at-large nominations, the early votes were tight, ranging from 27.4% for Minnich to 22.7% for Dave Haines.

As the evening went on, Minnich and Brewster solidified their nominations. They totaled 1,718 and 1,677 votes, respectively, to lead the race.

Haines, who was selected to fill the rest of Ray Newton’s term after Newton was elected sheriff, pulled to within one vote of Alexander with just a few precincts remaining to count. But Alexander ran well in both Dunkirk precincts and Knox to take the third spot by 49 votes over Haines, 1,512-1,463.

    Jonelle Foreman gets a hug from Jay County recorder Melanie Upp on Tuesday evening after primary election results made Foreman the winner over Jon Eads in the Republican primary for Jay County treasurer. Voter turnout came in at 28.5% in Jay County. (The Commercial Review/Ray Cooney)

 

Foreman, the current first deputy in the treasurer’s office, won 16 of 18 precincts against Eads, who is in the midst of his second term as county clerk. Her victory came by a 1,546-1,298 margin as she earned 54.4% of the vote.

Marla Lutes defeated Amy Schlichter 83-65 in the race for Republican precinct committeeman in Penn.

Selected in the nine-way race for seven GOP state convention delegate slots were Jon Eads, Lenny Muhlenkamp, Jenae Blasdel, Bryan Alexander, Matt Goldsworthy, Amy Schlichter and Brian Hurt. (Falling short were Jared Blasdel and Chad Schlichter.)

The general election race for state representative in District 33 — it includes all of Jay, Randolph and Blackford counties and part of Delaware and Henry counties — will be a rematch of 2022 as incumbent Republican J.D. Prescott of Randolph County and Democrat John Bartlett of Blackford County each won with about 70% of the vote.

In the Republican primary, Prescott had 70.7% of the vote with 96.3% of the precincts reporting in his race against Portland attorney Greg LeMaster. 

“I’m just honored to be the Republican nominee for another term,” said Prescott. “I look forward to getting out and competing hard to earn a victory in the fall. …

“I want to continue sticking to the basic Christian conservative principles I have since the beginning. … I want to continue to fight hard for our community and our rural values.”

Bartlett had 69.2% of the vote against Redkey Town Council member Jim Phillips in the Democrat primary.

Prescott got 65% of the vote in Jay County while Bartlett had 64.4%.

“I’m excited for round two against Mr. Prescott,” said Bartlett. “As I’ve been out in the communities again … things have not changed. People are still experiencing the same issues that they had two years ago and I’m excited to take him on and let’s see if we can’t get some better new ideas, thinking outside the box, for the people of the 33rd District.”

In races for offices at the state and federal level in the GOP primary, Jay County favored:

•Donald Trump with 82.5% of the vote against Nikki Haley for president

•Mike Braun with 39.7% of the vote in the six-way race for governor with Suzanne Crouch second at 26.4%

•Tim Smith with 24.7% in the eight-way race for U.S. Representative in District 3 with Marlin Stutzman second at 21.7% 

Trump and Braun were both on track for easy wins. Stutzman had a 1,300-vote lead over Smith with 96.3% of precincts reporting.

Kiley Adolph out-polled Phil Goss in Jay County 193-127 for the Democrat nomination for U.S. Representative in District 3 and Valerie McCray had a 185-139 edge over Marc Carmichael for U.S. Senator. Both Adolph and McCray were projected to win overall.

Uncontested in the primary were Republicans Jim Banks for U.S. Senator, Matt Lehman for state representative in District 79, Brian Hutchison for Jay Circuit Court Judge, Missy Eads Elliott for county clerk, Brayden Fields for county coroner, Brad Daniels for surveyor and Democrats Joe Biden for president and Jennifer McCormick for governor.

Jay County’s voter turnout (28.49%) was about the same two years ago, according to  the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office. 

Roughly the same turnout was reported in the 2018, 2014, 2012 and 2010 primaries, when it ranged from between 26% and 29%.

Four years ago, approximately 32% of local voters took to the polls. Voter turnout in 2016 far surpassed others in the last decade at 46% voter turnout.