Skeels, Shalla, Wilson are top three in Primary for Hospital; Bottom beats Vak for Dist. 2 commissioner’s race
Perkins County Hospital Board of Directors Incumbent Jeff Skeels, along with new filers Marcia L. Shalla and Melissa K. Wilson, won the three seats in the heavily contested May 10 Primary Election and advance to the November General Election unopposed on the Democratic ticket.
Out of the 2,400 votes cast for the race, Skeels received 568, followed by Wilson with 425, then Shalla with 403. Also in the race were Tori Gengenbach, 377, Janet Lagler, 314, and Lissa L. Schroder, 79.
For the other contested Perkins County race for District No. 2 County Commissioner, Mark Bottom garnered more votes than James Vak to advance to the November election unopposed. Out of the 260 votes cast in the race, 142 went to Bottom with 111 going to Vak.
Assessor Peggy Burton, Attorney Richard H. Roberts, Commissioner Candidate Steven Tucker (Dist. 3), Clerk Rita A. Long, Sheriff James Brueggeman, along with Treasurer Julie A. Sestak, all Republicans, had no challengers at the Primary and automatically advance to November with no challenger on the Democratic ticket.
In a similar situation for the City of Grant Mayor and two openings for City Council seats, incumbents Mayor Lisa Schmitt and Council Members Andrea Brueggeman and Tierney L. Petersen advance to November unopposed.
Also included on the ballot in November will be three open positions on the Perkins County School Board with incumbents Chris Fryzek and Angela Gloy filing, along with new filer Cameron Sis. The three file with no challengers on the Democratic ticket.
Two positions will be open on the Madrid Village Board, with Jennifer Baumgartner and Kevin D Klahn filing so far for the positions.
The Elsie Village Board will have two open positions on the November ballot, while the Venango Village Board will have three. Neither board has any filings yet. Village board candidates have a deadline of July 15 for incumbents and Aug. 1 for nonincumbents.
Hospital levy
A majority of Perkins County citizens voted to allow the Perkins County Hospital District’s request to levy a property tax not to exceed 3.5 cents per $100 of taxable valuation in excess of the limits prescribed by law until fiscal year 2027-2028 for purposes of general operations. The request passed with 513 yes, and 241 voting no.
state results
On the state level, the hotly contested Republican Primary for Governor was won by Columbus pork producer Jim Pillen, while Bellevue state senator Carol Blood won the Democratic nomination.
Perkins County voters followed the state outcome for governor, voting in the majority for Pillen and Blood.
Voters in Perkins, Chase and Dundy counties voted for the Upper Republican NRD at-large candidates.
Incumbent Bart Stromberger of Champion led the field, and was the top vote-getter in all three counties.
He tallied 1,145 total votes overall, while Wauneta’s Brad
Dixon was second with 736.
Steven Grams of Imperial had 419.
Stromberger and Dixon will advance to the General Election.
It was a lopsided District 44 state legislative race, with two candidates vying to replace term-limited Dan Hughes. Despite the Primary vote, both candidates move on to the General Election.
District-wide, voters chose Teresa Ibach of Sumner over Edward Dunn of Grant. Ibach garnered 6,553 votes to Dunn’s 2,054 for a 76/24 percent split.
However, in Perkins County, Dunn’s home base, he garnered more votes with a total of 267 to Ibach’s 205.
In Perkins County’s new State Legislative District, No. 42, Chris Bruns and Mike Jacobson will vye in November for the seat, which Jacobson now holds. The two men beat out Brenda Fourtner in the primary with votes of 4,031 for Bruns district-wide and 3,885 for Jacobson. In Perkins County, Jacobson garnered more votes with a total of 140 to Bruns’ 98.
Another closely watched race at the state level for Perkins County was the State Board of Education.
Elizabeth Tetgmeier of North Platte, took 62.7 percent of the vote bypassing incumbent Robin Stevens of Gothenburg and Pat Moore of Litchfield.
Tetgmeier won handily in Perkins County with 449 votes. Stevens had 116, with Moore getting 100 votes.
Tetgmeier and Stevens will advance to November.
For the University of Nebraska Board of Regents Dist. 7 position, it was Matt Williams winning overall with a total of 22,341 votes, followed by Kathy Wilmot with 20,500. and Nolan Gurnsey with 6,069. Williams will advance to the General Election in November. Wilmot won in Perkins County, however, with a total of 326 to Williams’ 219.
In the hotly contested Secretary of State race, incumbent Bob Evnen had a strong opponent with late filer Bob Borer. However, Evnen beat Borer in the end by just over 26,000 votes. Evnen ended up with a total of 97,859 to Borer’s 71,780. A third filer, Rex Schroder, received a total of 53,379 votes in the state. In Perkins County, Evnen garnered only 75 more votes than Borer with 275 to Borer’s 200, and Schroder came in with 109.
In the Dist. 3 congressional race, Adrian Smith won handily over challenger Mike Calhoun, 76 percent to 24 percent.
A total of 800 Perkins County voters cast ballots during the Primary Election or by early voting, out of 1,887 registered.
That represents a 42 percent turnout with 451 at the polls and 349 casting early ballots.
Statewide, 32.01 percent voted in the Primary Election this year.