Republicans pick Thompson for House; Dems choose Franken

By KENT THOMPSON
With no contested races on the local level, there was a low voter turnout for the June 7 primary election in Humboldt County.
A total of 1,020 registered voters cast ballots. The breakdown was 75 percent (769) voting in the Republican primary and 25 percent (251) voting in the Democratic primary.
The 1,020 voters represented 15.38 percent of the registered voters in Humboldt County.
All local officeholders were on the Republican primary ballot and all but one was an incumbent.
District One Supervisor Bruce Reimers received 161 votes with three write-ins. District Two Supervisor Sandy Loney received 173 votes. There was one write-in. District 3 Supervisor Rick Pedersen received 112 of 114 votes cast.
Jana Pettinger received 672 votes for county treasurer. County Recorder Diane Amundson received 700 votes. County Attorney Jon Beaty received 638 of 644 votes.
There was one statewide race for State Representative. Following redistricting, House District 56 was created. James L. Nelson of Britt and Mark Thompson of rural Clarion were the candidates for the district which includes Humboldt, Hancock and Wright counties.
Thompson won Humboldt County and prevailed overall. He received 547 votes in Humboldt County to 168 for Nelson. The margin was even greater in Wright County, Thompson winning 909 to 149. Nelson prevailed in his home county of Hancock by a vote of 771 to 597. The total vote showed Thompson with 65 percent of the vote at 2,053 and Nelson with 35 percent at 1,088.
Thompson will be on the ballot in November. There is no Democratic challenger.
On the Republican side, the vote for U.S. Senator mirrored the statewide totals with incumbent Charles Grassley garnering 559 votes and challenger Jim Carlin, 206. That translated to 73 percent for Grassley and 27 percent for Carlin. Statewide Grassley won 75 percent to 25 percent.
Uncontested races showed U.S. 4th District Rep. Randy Feenstra gathering 697 of 705 votes cast. Kim Reynolds received 733 of 738 votes cast in the Republican primary for governor.
The Republicans had a contested race for State Auditor. Todd Halbur topped Mary Ann Hanusa, 349 votes to 303. Statewide, Halbur won by nearly 4,000 votes, 51 percent to 48 percent.
Paul Pate (Secretary of State), Roby Smith (Treasurer), Mike Naig (Secretary of Agriculutre) and Brenna Bird (Attorney General) were all elected.

Franken picked
The big vote on the Democratic primary ballot was for U.S. Senator. Three people were vying for the right to challenge Sen. Grassley.
Humboldt County went in lock step with the rest of Democrats statewide in picking Retired Admiral Michael Franken with 153 votes to 84 for Abby Finkenauer. Glenn Hurst received 12.
Statewide, Finkenauer received 62,498 votes, or 40 percent, compared to 86,372 for Franken (55 percent). Hurst received 7,562, just under 5 percent.
For U.S. 4th District Representative, Ryan Melton received 220 votes locally and 20,787 throughout the district.
Uncontested state races showed Deidre DeJear gathering 231 votes for governor. Rob Sand received 233 votes for State Auditor. Michael Fitzgerald received 239 votes for state treasurer, an office he currently holds. John Norwood received 226 local votes for secretary of agriculture. Longtime incumbent Attorney General Tom Miller received 237 votes.
There were no Democratic candidates for House District 56. There were just a smattering of write-in votes for the local offices in the Democratic primary.