General election results out

Republicans swept the region in Tuesday’s general election.

A total of 31,483 voters cast their ballots Nov. 2, which resulted in a voter turnout of about 53 percent.

Here are the preliminary results as reported by the county election offices and the Montana Secretary of State Office.

FLATHEAD COUNTY

Republican Pam Holmquist beat out incumbent Democrat Joe Brenneman by nearly twice as many votes to take the open commissioner seat in Flathead County. Holmquist received 20,195 votes to Brenneman’s 10,458. Starting in January, that will mean all three county commissioners will be Republicans.

All other Flathead County government races were uncontested in the general election, which meant that Republican Chuck Curry was elected as sheriff and that others, including Ed Corrigan as attorney, Paula Robinson as clerk and recorder, Marcia Sheffels as superintendent of schools and Adele Krantz as county treasurer, retained their positions.

Curry beat out two fellow Republican candidates in the primaries including incumbent Sheriff Mike Meehan.

LAKE COUNTY

In a tightly contested race in Lake County, Republican Jay Doyle, who is the current undersheriff, was elected as the next sheriff.

Doyle, with 3,902 votes, beat out Democrat Dan Yonkin, who received 2,668 votes, and Independent candidate Steven R. Kendley, who received 3,613.

Current Sheriff Lucky Larson, a Republican, opted not to run for a second term.

All other positions up for election in Lake County were unopposed on the ballot. including the races for county attorney (Mitchell Young), clerk and recorder (Paula Holle), commissioner (Ann Smith Brower), superintendent of schools (Gale Decker) and treasurer (Patti Duford Kugler). All but Holle, a Democrat, were Republicans.

JUDGES

Current Flathead County Justice of the Peace David Ortley won the new district court judge position, beating out Kalispell Municipal Court Judge Heidi Ulbricht with 15,918 votes to her 12,878.

Kalispell attorney Dan Wilson was elected to fill Ortley’s current seat as Flathead County Justice of the Peace for Department 1. He beat public defender Glen Neier for the position with 14,961 votes to Neier’s 8,347.

 In department 2, incumbent Mark Sullivan held on to retain his position with 15,742 votes to Flathead County Sheriff’s deputy Travis Bruyer’s 10,019.

LEGISLATURE

In the legislative seats pertinent to the West Shore, all of the Republican incumbents held on to their positions. Mark Blasdel of House District 10 beat out Democrat Carla Augustad with 2,508 votes, or 79.3, to her 908. In the House District 11 race, Janna Taylor, with 3,140 votes, defeated Green party candidate Cheryl Wolfe, who received 1,041 votes. For the local Senate District 5 position, incumbent Verdell Jackson received 6,600 votes to Democrat Edd Blackler’s 2,427 votes.

STATE

At the state level, incumbent Denny Rehberg, a Republican, retained his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives with 60.3 percent of the vote. Challengers Democrat Dennis McDonald and Libertarian Mike Fellows received 33.8 and 5.7 percent respectively.

Republican Bill Gallagher beat out incumbent Democrat Ken Toole for Public Service Commissioner for District 5 with 58 to 41.9 percent of the vote.

Beth Baker, a Helena attorney and former deputy attorney general, is the new Montana Supreme Court Justice 4, after defeating Nels Swandal, a state district judge from Wilsall, with 52.2 to 47.34 percent of the vote.

BALLOT ISSUES

The ballot also included a constitutional convention call and three initiatives — I-105 pertaining to real estate tax, I-161 related to nonresident hunting licenses and I-164 regarding restrictions on payday lenders. All three initiatives were approved.

More than 70 percent of voters were in favor of both I-105 and I-164.  I-161 was a closer contest with about 53.8 percent voting for and 46.2 against. The constitutional convention call was rejected. Approximately 41.4 percent voted for and 58.6 percent were against holding a constitutional convention.

For complete results statewide, visit http://electionresults.sos.mt.gov/default.aspx. Visit individual county websites for local results.