McLean County Coroner Kathy Davis easily defeated two challengers to win the Republican nomination for Coroner. Davis far out-polled Gary Morefield and Ryan Gibson to win her first elected term. Davis said she is thrilled with the support given her by voters and said she hopes that this was a referendum on professional qualifications for that office holder.
"I really want to elevate it to more of a medical law-type position where we can save lives. Where we can bring it out to the forefront," she said. "Being the coroner is not something that everyone keeps a secret but rather that everyone knows it's an important job."
Davis was appointed to fill a vacancy in the office. She is a nurse practitioner. Davis said she believes there was so much opposition because it is a desirable county wide office that people believe in. She said former Coroner Beth Kimmerling had the the post for so long that other people wanted to take a shot.
In McLean County Board District 10, challenger Josh Barnett unseated long time incumbent Ben Owens in the GOP primary. Barnett said he thinks his message of transparency in government and economic development resonated well with voters in the east side twin cities district. Owens will serve out his term, but Barnett says he won't be idle.
"My first priority is to sit down with the various department heads within the county and get a head start. I want to get caught up on issues they see coming forward," said Barnett. "I've already done a little bit of that, but I want to continue to walk forward in that path so I can hit the ground running the first thing in December," said Barnett.
Barnett said he will continue to work to try to move county board meetings to evenings to make it easier for working people to serve in county government. The board currently has a high number of retirees in office. There were no democratic candidates on the ballot. Potential independent candidates have until this summer to register for the November ballot.
In district 2, four write-in candidates failed to out-vote a non-candidate whose name was listed on the ballot due to a technicality. Matt Sorensen, the former board chair, resigned in January after federal wire fraud charges were brought against him. He has pleaded not guilty, but all this happened after the primary ballot was certified.
Scott Murphy, Diane Benjamin, Garth Nicholas and Michael Sumner all failed to get as many votes as Sorensen. The former member could resign his spot on the November ballot, or he could seek the position, although that's not expected by some observers.
