The so-called blue wave did not reach Dallas County Tuesday as voters gave the Republican party full control of all county-level offices, turning away the six-term Dallas County Attorney, Democrat Wayne Resietter, in favor of Republican Chuck Sinnard, an 18-year veteran assistant county attorney.
Reisetter was the only Democrat officeholder in Dallas County.
Sinnard won in 21 of the 34 voting precincts in Dallas County, earning 20,134 votes or 53 percent of the total compared to Reisetter’s 18,459 or 48 percent.
All other Dallas County Republican incumbents retained their offices in Tuesday’s general election, including Supervisor Brad Golightly in the first district, Supervisor Kim Chapman in the third district, Dallas County Treasurer Mitch Hambleton and Dallas County Recorder Chad Airhart.
Republican Golightly turned away Democrat challenger Breanna Morman by capturing 55 percent of the 39,583 votes cast to Morman’s 45 percent.
Republican Chapman took 50 percent of the votes in his four-way race, with Democrat Pat Stalter earning 42 percent, Independent Michael Walrod receiving 6 percent and Independent Robert Greenway 2 percent.
Republican Hambleton outdistanced Democrat challenger Julie Stewart, garnering 55 percent of the vote to Stewart’s 45 percent.
Republican Airhart ran unopposed and gained 96 percent of the ballots cast, with 1,145 write-in votes also registered.
Republicans will also continue to represent almost all Dallas County residents in the Iowa House of Representatives, as voters in the Iowa House district 19 race chose Republican Chris Hagenow over Democrat Gregg Gustafson by a 56 percent to 41 percent margin and in the Iowa House district 20 contest picked Republican Ray “Bubba” Sorensen over Democrat Warren Varley by a difference of 62 percent to 38 percent.
A rare bright spot for Democrats appeared with the results of the race for Iowa House District 44, which includes parts of Clive, Waukee and West Des Moines. Democrat Kenan Judge won election with 52 percent of the ballots cast, while Republican Anna Bergman captured 46 percent of the votes and Libertarian Gabriel Thomson earned 2 percent.
In the Iowa House district 47 race, which includes Boone and Greene counties, Republican Phil Thompson took 52 percent of the votes to Democrat David Weaver’s 45 percent out of 13,237 votes cast.
In the voting for Iowa House district 20, which includes Perry, Sorensen captured 7,648 of the votes in the district, and Varley carried 4,613. Although Varley outdistanced his opponent in Dallas County with 1,682 votes to Sorensen’s 1,453, the Freedom Rock painter won the vote counts in Adair, Cass and Guthrie counties. There were 12,276 ballots cast in the race.
Varley took more than 60 percent of the votes in each of the three Perry precincts, but Sorensen dominated voting in rural Lincoln and the Dallas/Spring Valley townships.
Overall, Dallas County saw a 68 percent voter turnout, third-highest in the state and exceeded only by the turnout in the far less populace Harrison and Ringgold counties. Dallas County had 41,738 ballots cast out of a total of 61,433 eligible voters. Turnout statewide was 61 percent.
In Congressional races, Democrat Cindy Axne took 49 percent of the vote and two-term Republican incumbent David Young received 47 percent in Iowa’s 16-county third Congressional district, according to the Iowa Secretary of State’s office. Y
Young outdistanced his Democrat opponent in 15 counties, but Axne garnered 110,400 votes in Polk County compared to Young’s 79,376, an edge that gave the West Des Moines businesswoman the victory, with more than 346,000 total votes cast district-wide.
Young carried Dallas County with 21,049 votes over Axne’s 18,536. Candidates Bryan Jack Holder, Paul Knupp, Mark Elworth Jr. and Joe Grandanette and write-ins rounding out the total Dallas County vote to 40,835.
In Iowa’s first Congressional district, Democrat newcomer Abbie Finkenauer captured 51 percent of the vote, defeating two-term Tea Party Republican Rod Blum, who earned 46 percent of the votes. Finkenauer joins Axne as the first women to represent Iowa in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In the second Congressional district, Democrat incumbent Dave Loebsack turned away Republican Christopher Peters, taking 55 percent of the votes to the challenger’s 43 percent.
Voters returned Iowa’s white nationalist Congressman Steve King to Washington, D.C., giving the Kiron Republican a ninth term in the U.S. House if Representatives. King won 50 percent of Tuesday’s vote compared to 47 percent by Democrat challenger J. D. Scholten.
Iowa Republicans also retained control of the governorship, with voters electing the first female governor in Iowa history. In Dallas County, incumbent Republican Kim Reynolds received 21,149 votes, and Des Moines businessman Fred Hubbell earned 19,734. Statewide, Reynolds outdistanced her opponent by 662,633 votes to Hubbell’s and 623,099.
In the county’s non-partisan races, voters elected Marsha McClintock, Tray A. Wade and Joelle S. Miner as Dallas County Hospital Trustees.
Winners in the race for Dallas County Soil and Water Conservation District Commission were Veronica M. Lack and Eric Wessels.
Beth Griffin, Julie Russell, Josh Williams, Doug Pfeiffer and Tony Collins were elected to the Dallas County Agricultural Extension Council.
Scott Sandberg was elected to the Fox Creek Benefited Water District for the term expiring in 2020. Write-in votes for the 2019 are yet to be examined.
Dallas County voters voted to retain Iowa Court of Appeals Judges Michael R. Mullins, Mary Tabor and Anuradha Vaitheswaran.
Also retained by county voters as Fifth Judicial District Judges were District Judges Randy V. Hefner, Brad McCall and Terry Rickers and District Associate Judges Virginia Cobb and Kevin A. Parker.
I’m so proud of Perry, Iowa. Our quadrant of the county operates on a decidedly higher level of consciousness. Let’s face the fact Perry’s influence in the electoral process has been virtually gerrymandered out of existence. I personally consider Perry, Iowa, the last outpost of civilization from here to Denver.