May Primary Ends In The Election Of Several New Faces

The polls are closed and the votes have been totaled. The May Primary Election didn’t have the voter turnout that some may have desired, but the voters made their decisions and their ballots have been cast.

In Starke County, Daniel Bridegroom will have the Democratic nomination for Starke County Commissioner in District Three, having received 801 votes over Joseph Woods’ 787. For Starke County Treasurer, Linda L. Belork fell just short of Kasey “Bula” Clark, who earned 842 votes to Belork’s 760. Interestingly enough, the candidate to receive the most votes out of any Starke County race was Kathy Norem, who raked in 1508 votes– regardless of the fact that she was unopposed.

Clark says she is grateful for the voters’ decision, and she’s ready to continue her efforts in the position of treasurer.

“It was rough starting off, I’m getting things back in control and the way they should be, but they’re continuing to progress and continuing to go forward and things are looking great,” said Clark.

Bridegroom says he wasn’t nervous about the election results.

“As commissioners, we make a lot of big decisions. You have to keep your head. You have to stay cool with it, and this was just another night to stay cool and let it be what it will be,” said Bridegroom.

Bridegroom went on to say that he feels the county commissioners’ efforts have been moving the county forward.

“The county is moving forward. I feel good. We work very hard to move the county forward and I think it is moving. We feel it is. We feel respect when we go to Indianapolis for meetings and we go around the state for meetings. We are recognized,” said Bridegroom.

For Pulaski County, Republican Kenneth Boswell failed to get the votes he needed to beat out Terry Young to keep his position of County Commissioner for District One. Boswell received 799 votes, nearly 200 short of Young’s 981 votes. There will also be a new face in the position of County Commissioner for District Two, as Republican Larry Brady managed to overtake Mike “Big Mike” Tiede with 1119 votes to Tiede’s 842.

Voters in Marshall County have decided to keep William Cleavenger as coroner over Les Trump. Cleavenger received 3331 votes, more than twice the 1567 votes Trump received.

For the State Representative for District 17, Timothy Harmon won with 4438 votes over Francis Ellert’s 2721.

On the federal level, the competition between Greg Andrews and Jackie Walorski for U.S. Representative for District Two ended in a landslide victory for Walorski, who received 1293 votes to Andrews’ 550.