Republicans Gain Ground In Local Legislative Races

Legislature

Like a game of tug-of-war, a handful of Panhandle Democrats struggled Election Day to maintain or bolster their presence in North Idaho, but were losing ground to Republicans.

Among the big upsets of the evening was Republican Shawn Keough’s win over Sen. Tim Tucker of Boundary County, and the possibility that Jack Riggs could beat six-term incumbent Mary Lou Reed.

Early returns Tuesday night left some races too close to call, while others were leaning in favor of Republican candidates, continuing a trend toward the right in the once Democratic stronghold.

District 4: Sen. Mary Lou Reed, D-Coeur d’Alene, was in a tight race with well-heeled challenger Republican Jack Riggs. Early returns showed Riggs slightly ahead with 54 percent of the precincts counted. Riggs had 2,224 votes and Reed had 1,851.

In the struggle for the two House seats, early returns favored Republicans. Incumbent Republican Tom Dorr had 2,123 votes to Democrat challenger Larry Watson’s 1,856 votes. In the race for Position B, incumbent Republican Don Pischner was in the lead against Democrat challenger Don Heikkila; 2,464 votes to 2,113 votes.

District 2: Incumbent Sen. Clyde Boatright, a Republican, faced a well-financed challenger, Democrat Larry Kenck, in one of the most expensive campaigns in North Idaho. Boatright appeared to be attracting the most early votes. With only nine of 52 precincts reporting, Boatright had 1,021 votes, while Kenck had only 622.

Republican Wayne Meyer appeared to be hanging onto his House seat, winning 1,012 votes to challenger Marc McGregor’s 594 votes. Rep. Hilde Kellogg, R-Post Falls, ran unopposed for the 2nd district’s Position A House seat.

District 1: Democrat Tim Tucker, a 14-year incumbent senator from Boundary County, was slipping in a tough race against challenger Shawn Keough, a Republican.

Early returns showed Tucker had only 1,576 votes to Keough’s 2,149.

In the District 1 House race, Harvey Balison, a Democrat, had attracted 1,475 votes, while his Republican opponent, John Campbell, inched ahead with 1,929 votes, according to early counts.

District 3: Incumbent Senator Gordon Crow, a Republican, had the lion’s share of contributions in his race against challenger Sam Sears, a Democrat. He also appeared to be getting the lion’s share of the votes Tuesday. Crow had 2,488 votes to Sears’ 1,818 votes.

In the House seat, position A, the race was too close to call. Republican Jim Clark was slightly ahead with 2,110 votes to incumbent Democrat Marv Vandenberg’s 2,162 votes.

Meanwhile, incumbent Republican, Jeff Alltus, was maintaining a slight lead in his race against challenger Alan Wasserman, a Democrat. Alltus had 2,314 votes and Wasserman had 1,943.

District 7: Sen. Marguerite McLaughlin, D-Orofino, has spent seven terms in the state Senate, and Tuesday evening, early election returns indicated she would serve at least one more. McLaughlin had 422 votes to Republican challenger John Ferris’ 292 votes.

Meanwhile, Rep. Chuck Cuddy, D-Orofino, appeared to be winning his bid for re-election against Republican Homer Ferguson. Cuddy had 380 votes to Ferguson’s 296 votes.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

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