SEVERAL CONTESTED RACES COMING UP IN MARCH PRIMARY AS FILING DEADLINE APPROACHES
One week remains until the deadline to file as a candidate in the March 3rd primary election, and several races are starting to take shape in Washington County.
With Monday, December 8th at 6 p.m. being the cutoff for candidacy filings, a number of candidates have announced plans to pursue election for local offices next year. Currently, there are three contested races: county judge, county commissioner of Precinct 2, and most recently county commissioner of Precinct 3.
The Precinct 3 commissioner race came open after Kirk Hanath, who is continuing to serve as the holdover commissioner through the election season, declared his intent in Mid-November to run for county judge after John Durrenberger announced he would not seek another term. Gil Janner and Chad Dismukes announced last week they are running for Hanath’s seat.
As for county judge, Hanath is one of three candidates who are currently set to appear on the ballot, the others being Douglas Cone and Brad Tegeler.
The Precinct 2 commissioner seat has four candidates vying for election, after Candice Bullock revealed she would not be running for office again. Amanda Klehm, Jim Chisolm, William “Bubba” Herrin and Mark Schonefeld will be seeking Bullock’s position.
All other offices up for re-election have one candidate who has filed:
- Precinct 4 County Commissioner – Dustin Majewski
- County Clerk – Nicholas Prenzler (following retirement of Beth Rothermel)
- District Clerk – Carli Koehne (following resignation of Kimberly Boyce)
- County Court at Law Judge – Eric Berg
- County Treasurer – Peggy Kramer
- Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 – Scott Atwood (Douglas Zwiener is not seeking re-election)
- Justice of the Peace Precinct 2 – Holly Johnson (Douglas Cone is running for county judge)
- Justice of the Peace Precinct 3 – Duane “Dane” Houston
- Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 – Harold C. “Buddy” Riddle
All declared candidates are running as Republicans.
Any potential candidates looking to file for a position can reach out to their party chair.