May 07, 2008 01:45 am
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by Brian Kern
DANVILLE — Familiar names in Hendricks County politics will likely remain that way headed into the November general election as incumbents secured party nominations while their opposition party challengers ran unopposed in last night’s primary.
Republican State Senator Connie Lawson (District 24) won by a wide margin over challenger John Gootee. Lawson tallied almost 79 percent of the vote according to unofficial election results which still must be certified by county election officials. That victory will likely secure another term for Lawson who currently serves as the Majority Floor Leader and has held her Senate seat since 1996. She is currently unopposed for the general election.
In the race for State Representative District 40 it was Republican incumbent Greg Steuerwald who received his party’s nomination. Steuerwald defeated challengers Zach Rice and Dave Berryman by comfortable margins and will now square off with Democratic challenger Nick Schmutte who won his party’s nomination after running unopposed.
“I think everyone ran a very positive campaign and I was pretty proud of everybody involved,” Steuerwald said. “I’m just real excited to get back to work.”
Rice characterized his first election as a learning experience and said that he is hopeful that Steuerwald and other representatives will increase their focus on more efficient local government.
“We’ve got to streamline local government and we’ve got to take the Kernan-Shepherd report and put it into action,” Rice said. “Government has done a good job of shifting money around but is doing a poor job of lowering what they spend.”
Republican Jeffrey Thompson and Democrat Jason Ellis will square off in November for the State Representative seat in District 28. Each candidate ran unopposed in last night’s primary.
Ralph Foley will represent Republicans in District 47 after defeating challenger Mark Meadows by a 2 to 1 margin. Foley is unopposed in the general election.
On the Democrat side of District 91 it was Timothy Huber who edged Tom Pappas by a mere 115 votes to secure his party’s nomination while Republican challenger Robert Behning was unopposed.
brian.kern@flyergroup.com
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