Primary results indicate voters are happy

The people have spoken.  

And it seems the people of Kootenai County are pretty happy. 

In Tuesday’s primary election, in the contested Republican races, almost all incumbents won handily at the state and county levels.  

Here’s a quick look: 

Rep. Vito Barbieri easily beat Eric Seeley for District 3 Seat A. 

Rep. Elaine Price easily beat Christa Hazel for District 4 Seat B. 

Kootenai County Commissioner Bruce Mattare easily beat Steve Em for the District 2 seat. 

Kootenai County Clerk Jennifer Locke easily beat John Samuelson. 

And it appears the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee held on to enough of its seats in the precinct committee races to maintain its conservative course. 

Gov. Brad Little has proven to be popular. He swept to an easy statewide win in the Republican primary, although it was closer in Kootenai County, with KCRCC’s endorsed candidate, Mark Fitzpatrick, getting 43% of the vote. 

Many local incumbents, like Sen. Phil Hart, Rep. Heather Scott, Sen. Doug Okuniewicz, Rep. Jordan Redman, Sen. Ben Toews, Rep. Joe Alfieri, Rep. Ron Mendive, Rep. Tony Wisniewski, and Sen. Carl Bjerke, didn’t even have challengers. That suggests they’re doing such a great job that no one thought they could beat them or even wanted to try, which is too bad, as competition is good. 

We know this is a red state, but it would have been nice to have more contested races on the Republican side. We are aware of the difficulty of defeating a sitting candidate, and one could argue that so many uncontested races are a sign of party unity.

The one race in which the incumbent not only lost but was soundly defeated was for county assessor. Challenger Allyson Knapp clobbered Bela Kovacs, which was a surprise, as we expected that to be a close contest, as Kovacs seemed to have a strong support base. But the decisive win no doubt sends a clear message that voters were not satisfied with his performance and wanted new leadership. Knapp has the experience to provide it.

We can all agree that it takes courage to seek public office. Whether someone won or lost, they deserve respect for trying. Contested elections are healthy and create a stronger, more responsive government. 

So, where do we go from here? 

It’s on to the general election in November. But as many have pointed out, the primary in most races really was the general election. Republicans have a strong hold on elected office and are expected to hold their seats come election time.

Nonetheless, we look forward to some strongly contested races in November, and then, we’ll see if the voters are still happy.