County incumbents win big, propelled by large turnout

RED OAK — With a larger than expected turnout, Montgomery County voters overwhelmingly supported three incumbents in County races, while supporting Republicans in all state and federal campaigns.

According to unofficial numbers provided by County Auditory Joni Ernst, 3,699 Montgomery County voters cast ballots in Tuesday election, a 50.3 percent turnout. Of those ballots cast, more than 1,011 of them were in the form of absentee.
While voter turnout was high for the mid-term election, they paled in comparison to the 2008 presidential election, when 4,300 ballots were cast, Ernst said.
In local races, County Attorney Bruce Swanson defeated Alan Kirshen for the second time in less than six months.
Swanson received 71.8 percent of the vote, beating Kirshen 2,484-966.
In the June primary, Swanson had a much tougher time defeating Kirshen, receiving the Republican nomination by a 669-567 margin. In that race, Kirshen won three precincts, including Precinct One (Gold Fair Building), Stanton and Villisca. This time though, Swanson won all seven precincts by large margins.
In the closest county race, Karen Blue was re-elected to the Board of Supervisors.
Blue received 61 percent of the vote, defeating Dave McFarland 352-225. McFarland, the director of the Montgomery County History Center, had been nominated by petition to run against Blue, who ran unopposed on the Republican ticket in the June primary.
Two other supervisors, Steve Ratcliff, and Randall Tye were also elected after running unopposed.
While Ratcliff was re-elected, Tye will be replacing Glenn Benskin on the board, who did not seek re-election. Tye won the Republican nomination in June, defeating Kirk Requist 247-152 in the primary.
In the only other contested county election, Carleen Bruning was re-elected Recorder. She received 79.8 percent of the vote, defeating Connie Magneson 2,800-707. Magneson was running after being nominated by petition.
Villisca voters cast ballots in the only local issue. Residents there decided by a 254-178 measure to retain the Municipal Power Plant board.
A petition placed on the ballot a measure that would have abolished the three-person board, turning over control of the power plant to the City Council.
In federal elections, both Sen. Charles Grassley and Steve King received more than 70 percent of the Montgomery County vote in their successful re-election bids.
Grassley received the largest percentage in any state or federal race, with 77.4 percent of the voter over Democrat Roxanne Conlin.
King received 71.6 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat Matthew Campbell 2,565-933.
Republican support continued throughout the statewide races, with Attorney General candidate Brenna Findley receiving the smallest amount of support with 63.4 percent of the vote, and incumbent Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey receiving the largest at 74.7 percent.
Former four-term Gov. Terry Branstad received 69.8 percent of the vote, defeating Gov. Chet Culver 2,558-1,015.
Findley was the only Republican candidate to lose statewide, as Tom Miller was elected to a ninth term.
 And in one of the more controversial races, all three Supreme Court justices up for retention were voted off the bench by Montgomery County and Iowa voters alike.
Vote totals were nearly identical for the three justices, with 1,909-1,957 ballots cast against Michael Streit, David Baker, and Marsha Ternus. Less than 1,150 votes were cast in favor of retaining each judge.
Montgomery County voters also voted against retaing Court of Appeals judges Amanda Potterfield, Gayle Vogel, David Danilson, Rick Doyle and Ed Mansfield, as well as District Court Judge Kathleen Kilnoski and Associate Judge Charles Fagan.
They were all retained on the state level.
Montgomery County voters also joined the rest of the state in supporting a constitutional amendment providing sales tax funds for natural resource preservation (1,670-1,479) while opposing a constitutional convention (2,169-920) taking place every 10 years.