Bernard, Burke, Otzel at top in Chase Co. races

    Three Chase County candidates on the Republican ticket won their races by strong margins in Tuesday’s Primary Election.
    In Chase County, Rebecca Bernard toppled two others in the County Treasurer’s race, Joel Burke beat the incumbent in the County Attorney election, while Tori Otzel was the clear favorite for County Assessor.
    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.
    Chase County voters followed the state outcome for Governor, voting in the majority for Pillen and Blood.
    Bernard, Burke and Otzel now move on to November unopposed. No Democrats filed for the offices.
    In the three contested county races, the unofficial votes were:
    County Treasurer—Bernard 509, Penny Strand 289, Amy Prior 206.
    County Attorney—Burke 580, Arlan Wine 407.
    County Assessor—Otzel 724, Sid Bartels 266.
    County Sheriff Kevin Mueller, County Clerk candidate Wendy Moe, along with commissioner candidates Jacci Brown (Dist. 2) and Kurt Bernhardt (Dist. 3), all Republicans, had no challengers at the Primary. They automatically advanced to November with no challengers on the Democratic ticket.
    There will be races in November for Imperial mayor and council, but all the current candidates automatically advanced  on non-partisan tickets.
    Two unopposed NRD subdistrict candidates, Jason Kunkel and Dean Large, also moved on to November.
NRD at-large, WP board
    There was a three-way race for Upper Republican NRD’s at-large seat, and the two top vote-getters will move on to November.
    Voters in Chase, Dundy and Perkins counties voted for the 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.
    In the crowded Wauneta-Palisade board of education race, in which six of seven candidates move on to November, the three incumbents were top vote-getters as Marty Wheeler tallied 271 votes, Laurie Maris 252 and Allison Sandman, 214.
    Other candidates and votes garnered were Vanessa Fanning 169, Shane Gerhartz 111, Brock Malcolm 95 and Mick Majors 87.
    Voters in Chase, Hayes, Dundy and Hitchcock counties cast ballots for the WP board.
State races
    A lot of money was spent by some of the top Republican candidates who campaigned for Nebraska’s next Governor, and it apparently paid off.
    Pillen, who was endorsed by outgoing Gov. Pete Ricketts, captured 457 Chase County votes to lead the field here.
    Local voters also followed the statewide results in their second, third and fourth place choices—Charles Herbster, Brett Lindstrom and Theresa Thibodeau.
    Herbster, who had former President Donald Trump’s endorsement, finished statewide in the Republican race with 30.23% of the vote, followed by Lindstrom 25.76% and Thibodeau at 6%.
    Carol Blood won handily statewide on the Democratic ticket with 82,344 votes to 10,727 for Roy Harris. Chase County also favored Blood over Harris, 51-11.
    Another closely watched race at the state level for Chase County’s rep on the State Board of Education.
    Elizabeth Tetgmeier of North Platte, took 62.5% of the vote bypassing incumbent Robin Stevens of Gothenburg and Pat Moore of Litchfield.
    Tetgmeier won handily in Chase County with 639 votes, winning every precinct. Stevens had 155, with Moore getting 136 votes.
    Throughout the entire district, Tetgmeier captured 33,232 votes, Stevens had 10,785, while Moore fielded 9,151. Tetgmeier and Stevens will advance to November.
    It was a lopsided District 44 state legislative race, with two candidates vying to replace term-limited Dan Hughes. Despite Tuesday’s vote, both candidates move on to the General Election.
    District-wide, voters chose Teresa Ibach of Sumner over Edward Dunn of Grant. Ibach garnered 6,526 votes to Dunn’s 2,052 for a 76/24% split.
    In Chase County, 626 voted for Ibach while 351 chose Dunn.
    In the Dist. 3 congressional race, Adrian Smith won handily over challenger Mike Calhoun, 76% to 24%.
    Dist. 3 Democrats advanced David J. Else in a little closer race over Daniel Wik, 52% to 48%.
    Chase County Clerk/Election Commissioner Debra Clark said 1,141 Chase County voters cast ballots Tuesday or by early voting, out of 2,431 registered.
    That represents a 47% turnout with 997 at the polls Tuesday and 144 casting early ballots.
    Statewide, 32.01% voted in the Primary Tuesday.