GOP remains in control of Kootenai County
Voters in Precinct 28 wait in line to cast their 2018 mid-term General Election ballots during lunch hour on Tuesday at American Legion Post 143 in Post Falls. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Photo by Duane Rasmussen Gary Hourigan waves signs at the northwest corner of Appleway Avenue and U.S. 95 Tuesday afternoon.
COEUR d’ALENE — The political waters remain deep red in North Idaho following Tuesday’s midterm elections.
The final elections numbers for all 76 of the county’s precincts were tallied early this morning by the Kootenai County Elections Office.
KOOTENAI COUNTY
Republican Jim Brannon will remain in the county clerk’s office for another term.
Brannon defeated independent challenger Dan Gookin with 36,668 votes (68 percent) to Gookin’s 16,965 votes.
With 37,877 votes, Leslie Duncan, a Republican, won the race for the District 3 seat on the county’s board of commissioners. Her Democratic challenger, Ruben Miranda received 17,641 votes.
Several other county positions were secured by Republican candidates who went unchallenged in this election: Bill Brooks, District 1 commissioner; Steve Matheson, treasurer; Rich Houser, assessor; and Warren Keene, coroner.
STATE LEGISLATURE
Republicans won every seat up for grabs in the state House and Senate.
District 2
Republican Steve Vick retained his Senate seat with 15,109 votes. He defeated two challengers: Democrat Dale Broadsword (5,131 votes) and Libertarian Shon Luoma (491 votes).
Republican Vito Barbieri will serve another term in House seat A. Barbieri (14,976 votes) defeated Democratic challenger Maria Andrews (5,725 votes).
House seat B was won by Republican John Green (15,313 votes) who defeated Alanna Brooks (5,075 votes).
District 3
Republican incumbent Don Cheatham (12,226 votes) beat Democrat Pat Lippert (4,707 votes) for the district’s Senate seat.
Ron Mendive, another Republican incumbent, ran unopposed for House seat A in this district.
Republican Tony Wisniewski (11,991 votes) won House seat B, defeating Democratic challenger Dan Hanks (4,954 votes).
District 4
Republican incumbent Mary Souza will serve another term in Idaho’s Senate. Souza (10,579 votes) defeated Democrat Cory English (7,749 votes).
For House seat A, Republican Jim Addis (10,403 votes) defeated Democrat Rebecca Schroeder (7,945 votes).
In the district’s House seat B race, Republican incumbent Paul Amador (11,431 votes) defeated Democrat Shem Hanks (6,834 votes).
LOCAL REVENUE PROPOSALS
In Athol, voters approved a city bond to pay for water system improvements, with 132 (64 percent) votes in favor of the measure.
Bayview voters shot down a water and sewer bond with 191 votes (63 percent) against the measure.
Hayden voters said no to a city budget increase with 3,682 votes (69 percent) cast against the proposal.