COEUR d'ALENE - The race for coroner is on.

Kootenai County voters picked Debbie Wilkey by a wide margin on Tuesday as the Republican candidate for county coroner in the general election.Wilkey, currently county deputy coroner, netted 5,065 votes at the primary election, or 42 percent of the votes, easily defeating Republican candidates Tom Cronin and Douglas Stafford.

"I'm blown away," Wilkey said Tuesday night. "I cannot thank the people out there enough."Cronin brought in 3,503 votes, 29 percent. Stafford totaled 3,219 votes, or 27 percent.

Jody DeLuca Hissong, current chief deputy coroner who ran unopposed on the Democrat ballot, had 1,405 votes.Hissong declined to comment Tuesday evening.

The winner this November will replace Dr. Robert West, who is retiring after holding the county coroner position since the mid-80s.Cronin, former police chief for the Coeur d'Alene Police Department, attributed Wilkey's win to the fact that West endorsed her.

"It's hard to beat the incumbent, even when the incumbent's not running," Cronin said. "That is a big obstacle to overcome."He praised Wilkey's win.

"I wish her well. I know she'll do very well in November," Cronin said, adding that he doesn't plan to run for office again.Stafford said he wasn't sure what his next step would be.

"The voters have chosen who they want, and that's fine," he said.Wilkey said that if elected coroner, she will try to encourage more communication with law enforcement and will also pursue more public education.

"I expect to have standards in my office," she said.Wilkey is a forensic anthropologist, a forensic and critical care nurse and an educator. She has a master's in forensic anthropology, a bachelor's in interdisciplinary studies, a nursing degree and P.O.S.T. certification in law enforcement.

Hissong has been chief deputy coroner in Kootenai County for 27 years, and has a nursing degree from the St. Anthony Community Hospital in Pocatello. She is also a member of the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners.The coroner is responsible for investigating the circumstances of the roughly 1,000 deaths that the county sees each year and determining when situations warrant autopsies.