Hatch wins commission primary; Wharff beats Bell in State House race

Bryon Glathar, Herald Managing Editor
Posted 8/21/20

Eyre fends off Allred, Baldwin beats Williams in Republican primaries

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Hatch wins commission primary; Wharff beats Bell in State House race

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EVANSTON — The Uinta County Commission will see a new face in January after Brent Hatch earned more votes than the crowded eight-candidate field. Hatch finished with 1,003 votes, while former commissioner Wendell Fraughton tallied 929. In a distant third, Jerry Carroll received 694 votes, and finishing fourth was S. Clark Anderson, who received 653 votes. Jesse Lind received 508 votes; Wade Lowry received 132; Charles A. Anderson received 79; and Chris Katzl received 47 votes to round out the field.

Although Tuesday’s election was a primary, it essentially decided the county commission race to replace Craig Welling — who did not run for re-election — because there were no Democrats on the ballot.

Despite fewer polling places and potential concerns about voting during the current health crisis, local voter turnout jumped significantly over the 2016 primary — the last year a president was elected. A possible record number of absentee ballots cast in Uinta County could explain part of the jump — a total of 1,441 absentee ballots were counted in the unofficial final results posted by county election officials.

“We had a huge turnout for a primary in a presidential election year,” Uinta County Clerk Amanda Hutchinson told the Uinta County Herald on Wednesday.

Fewer than 2,800 Uinta County residents cast ballots in the 2016 primary. This year saw more than 2,000 additional ballots — a total of 4,818 ballots were tallied on Tuesday.

“I believe we processed more absentee requests than any other election in our county before,” Hutchinson said. “We are thrilled that so many people showed up to vote and that so many people were able to absentee vote.”

Although the results are unofficial — the clerk’s office was still canvassing results as of press time — only one race appears to still be up in the air. Scott Heiner, R-Green River, is just five votes ahead of incumbent Thomas Crank, R-Kemmerer, in Wyoming House District 18. Heiner received 198 votes in Uinta County, compared to 101 for Crank and 47 for Mike Lundgren.

Lincoln County carried Crank to a near-victory, and Heiner unsurprisingly dominated in Sweetwater County.

In all, Heiner finished with 939 votes to Crank’s 934, spurring a statewide recount. Hutchinson said her office is overseeing that, as election officials work to finalize results, which are expected late Thursday.

In House District 19, incumbent Danny Eyre, R-Lyman, defeated challenger Karl Allred, 1,219 votes to 802.

Robert Wharff, R-Evanston, beat former Evanston  mayor Joy Bell, R-Evanston, in the race for House District 49. The seat for that district was open because current Rep. Garry Piiparinen chose not to run for re-election. Wharff tallied 997 votes to Bell’s 666.

Fred Baldwin, R-Kemmerer, was able to fend off Lyle Williams, R-Evanston, who is a perennial candidate but has never won an election. If Williams’ name sounds familiar, it’s probably because he’s been in the statewide spotlight for a few years as he’s challenged the University of Wyoming after it cited him for carrying a gun on campus during a political convention. Uinta County voters supported Williams’ bid for Senate District 14 more than the other three counties in the district — Lincoln, Sweetwater and Sublette — but it wasn’t enough to win as Baldwin was the overwhelming winner in Lincoln and Sublette counties.

Baldwin finished with 1,866 votes; Williams had 1,305; and Rex Rammell, R-Pinedale, finished in last with 866 votes.

In Evanston, incumbent Tim Lynch and Michael Searle will move on to the general election for Ward 1 in November after Mark Potter was eliminated on Tuesday. Since city races are nonpartisan, the top two vote-getters in each race will run again in November. Lynch finished with 420 votes to Searle’s 286 and Potter’s 118.

Ward 2 will be a rematch of sorts, since there were only two candidates. Incumbent Michael Sellers received 722 votes and John Pentz received 240.

The race for Ward 3 saw incumbent Evan Perkes run unopposed. Still, he drew 492 votes and will hold onto his seat on the city council.

No races in Bear River were contested. Brian Stokes will be the town’s next mayor, earning 126 votes. John Dubois Sr. was on the ballot but only received 10 votes after he pulled out of the race. He said he’s purchased a home in Evanston and plans to move so he wouldn’t have qualified for the office. Incumbent Lance Norris was re-elected to the Bear River Town Council, and Todd Jones will fill an open seat on the council after receiving 70 votes on Tuesday. Norris received the most votes with 110.

With two spots open on the Lyman Town Council and only two candidates running, it appears incumbent Shane Hooten will be joined by Eric Quinney on the council. Hooten received 367 votes and Quinney received 283.

Mountain View Mayor Scott Dellinger looks to stay in office for another term after earning 156 votes on Tuesday, though there were 99 write-in votes in that uncontested race. Gina Tims and Tori Carter will remain on the Mountain View Town Council. Both ran unopposed for two open seats on the council. Carter received 223 votes, and Tims received 210.

In the race for Wyoming’s U.S. Senate seat, which will be available after current Sen. Mike Enzi retires at the end of this year, former U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis earned the Republican nomination. She received 63,470 votes statewide. Robert Short was next with 13,469 votes. In third place was Bryan Miller with 10,943 votes.

The Democratic primary for U.S. Senate wasn’t much closer than the Republican race. Merav Ben-David received 9,579 votes to secure the nomination and she’ll face Lummis in November. Yana Ludwig was next with 4,926 votes, followed  by Nathan Wendt, who received 4,210.

Liz Cheney won the Republican nomination for Wyoming’s at-large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, clobbering her only contender, Blake Stanley. Cheney received 78,803 nods from Wyoming voters, while Stanley came in at 28,035 votes.

In the Democratic primary, Lynette Grey Bull won the race handily, earning 14,141 votes from Wyoming residents. Carol Hafner came in second place with 5,170 votes, and Carl Beach — the only Congressional candidate to visit Uinta County for a campaign visit — finished last with 4,104 votes.

The 2020 General Election is set for Tuesday, Nov. 3.