Ratcliff retains seat on County board; Peterson, Wiig beat incumbents

 MONTGOMERY COUNTY – Two out of three incumbents on the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors were defeated at the primary election Tuesday night. 

Steven Ratcliff was the lone survivor, edging Steven Berendes 168-151 for the GOP nomination in District 1. 

Challengers Joshua Wiig and Mark Peterson won the Republican nomination in Districts 2 and 4. Wiig beat incumbent Karen Blue 141-113, while Peterson received 251 votes in a three-man race that included Brian Coughlin (117 votes) and incumbent Randall Tye (40). 

With the absence of a  Democratic nominee in any of the supervisor races, the only way a GOP-nominated candidate can lose in the general election is to an independent or write-in candidate. 

In the race for U.S. Senate, former Montgomery County Auditor Joni Ernst unsurprisingly dominated the vote totals. Ernst received 1,385 votes (90.2 percent), followed by Mark Jacobs with 80 and Sam Clovis with 41. Scott Schaben and Matt Whitaker received 20 and 18 votes, respectively (see accompanying story).

In the race for U.S. Congress, Monte Shaw received the most votes in Montgomery County, 403, or 30.4 percent. Robert Cramer was second with 338, followed by Matt Schultz (293 votes), David Young (198), Brad Zaun (68) and Joe Grandanette (22). 

Zaun received the most votes statewide but failed to reach the needed 35 percent needed to secure a party’s nomination at the primary. 

As a result, Republican delegates are scheduled to host a convention in Creston to select their nominee. Any of the six candidates are eligible.