OTTUMWA —
Blake Smith led the vote count the entire night.
As precincts reported their voter turnout Tuesday night, Smith, Republican candidate for House District 81, won each one.
Smith beat out his Republican opponent, Rick McClure, 655-216, according to the Wapello County Auditor’s Office’s unofficial count Tuesday night.
Smith also earned 139 absentee ballot votes; McClure earned 28.
House District 81 encompasses mainly the eastern half of Wapello County, including Ottumwa.
“I’m very excited,” Smith said. “I was confident we were going to win. We put in a lot of hard work and had a good team. We had a good base support, with active volunteers.”
Smith will square off against incumbent Rep. Mary Gaskill, D-Ottumwa, in the November general election.
Gaskill ran unopposed in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, earning 741 Election Day votes and 99 absentee ballots.
“I think I’ll have a good shot,” Smith said. “We have a great, pro-Constitution message that will ring through the district very well.”
Smith thanked his supporters, both Republican and Democrat, for coming out to vote Tuesday.
McClure said he has “no regrets or apologies” for working long hours, which kept him from campaigning as much as he would have liked.
“I ran a very clean and upbeat campaign,” McClure said. “It would have been nice to have some more time out [campaigning].”
McClure was dissatisfied with the primary, as he would like to see an “open primary,” where independent candidates can run instead of having to choose either party.
Out of Wapello County’s 5,651 registered Republicans, 21.5 percent voted or sent in absentee ballots. Out of the county’s 10,232 registered Democrats, 10.24 percent turned out to vote or sent in absentee ballots.
In total, 8.26 percent of the county’s 23,486 registered voters cast a ballot Tuesday, and 1.37 percent of the county’s registered voters sent in an absentee ballot.
Most other county races for the Iowa House were uncontested as were Wapello County’s supervisor, auditor, sheriff and attorney positions.
Local News
June 6, 2012
Smith snags the vote, will face Gaskill in November
Less than 10 percent of registered voters cast ballots
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