Railsback takes rep. race, Neely crushed in gov. bid

Jim Neely’s political career may be on hold in the near future as he was one of many local candidates who fell short of state office Tuesday night.

Neely fell well short of unseating Gov. Mike Parson in Tuesday’s Republican Primary, capturing only eight percent of the vote, who former Cameron Mayor Darlene Breckenridge lost her bid to keep Neely’s District 8 state representative seat in Cameron after capturing 16 percent of the vote with only 1,095 voters casting their ballots for her Tuesday night.

Statewide elections

Neely’s push for governor fell well short of its mark after the medical practitioner netted 59,451 votes, 8 percent of the total vote, while being dwarfed by incumbent Gov. Mike Parson, who tallied 75 percent and followed by Saundra McDowell with 12 percent. Neely pursued the governor’s office after being term-limited as District 8 state representative.

Hamilton-based District 8 rep. candidate Randy Railsback crushed Breckenridge with 44 percent of the votes, followed by Clinton County Clerk David Woody’s 33 percent. The loss is the second major blow to Breckenridge’s political career in as many months with the Cameron city councilwoman recently losing her mayoral seat to Dennis Clark. The Concerned Citizens for Cameron meeting, where Railsback announced his campaign for District 8 representative, was same meeting Cameron City Councilman Roy Estes announced his campaign for now former Councilman L. Corey Sloan’s seat, which eventually gave Estes, Clark and Councilwoman Julie Ausmus the majority to unseat Breckenridge as mayor.

Clinton County results

Larry Fish will remain sheriff after narrowly defeating Pete Oulman with 54 percent of the total vote. Cindy McClellend Carter defeated Wade Wilken Jr. for county assessor with 68 percent of the vote.

DeKalb County results

Chet Owens took the eastern district commissioner seat after capturing 49 percent of the vote, besting Mark Robinson by 124 votes, followed by Pat Watkins 111 votes and Larry Tiller’s 21 votes. Kasey Keesaman ran unopposed for sheriff and replaces Andy Clark, who died while in the line of duty in June.  Other officials running unopposed include Jessica Lee for county treasurer, Heath Turner for county coroner, Tanya Zimmerman for county assessor and Connie Bray for public administrator.

Caldwell County results

Mitch Allen defeated Jerry Galloway for sheriff while Beth Larkins edged Jean Gardner by 152 votes to capture the county treasurer’s seat.

Daviess County results

Larry Adams Jr. defeated Kyle Cornett in a landslide to become county sheriff after capturing 69 percent of the votes. In the race for county assessor Aaron Pilburn trounced Joshua Lisle in similar fashion with 73 percent of the vote while Sally Black ran unopposed on the democratic ticket.