Republicans sweep Elmore County

The "R" held serve in Elmore County during Tuesday night's general election, with virtually every Republican on the ballot winning handily in the county based on unofficial returns at press time.

In Legislative District 23, House Seat B, incumbent Republican Pete Nielsen was re-elected to a seventh term in the Idaho Legislature with 3,081 votes in Elmore County, easily outdistancing Democrat Spike Ericson, who garnered 1,303 in the county and Independent C.J. Nemeth, who received 747 votes locally. Overall, including those parts of District 23 that covered Owyhee and Twin Falls counties, Nielsen won with 5,164 votes to Ericson's 1,776 and Nemeth's 929.

For the district's House Seat A, incumbent Republican Rich Wills won in Elmore County by a 3,584-1548 margin over Democrat Mary Anne Richards. In the district-wide totals, Wills won 5,715-2,168. Like Nielsen, he was elected in 2002 and has earned his seventh term.

Those were the only contested races locally. Incumbent District 23 Senator Republican Bert Bracket (4,290 votes in Elmore County and 6,746 total) was unopposed for hisseat, as were First District County Commissioner Bud Corbus (4,477 votes), Second District County Commissioner Wes Wootan (4,392 votes), County Clerk Barbara Steele (4,498 votes), Assessor Ron Fisher (4,485 votes), Coroner Jerry Rost (4,695 votes) and newcomer Amber Sloan (4,433 votes) for county treasurer.

Sherri Ybarra of Mountain Home, the Republican candidate for Superintendent of Education, defeated Democrat Jana Jones in Elmore County by a 3,160-1,981 margin, although in the statewide totals she was trailing slightly at presstime to Democrat Jana Jones.

In the key statewide races, local voters universally favored Republican candidates, backing Gov. Butch Otter over Democrat A.J. Balukoff 3,170-1,664 (with 435 votes for the nine other gubernatorial candidates).

At the federal level, incumbent Sen. Jim Risch received 3,690 votes locally to Nels Mitchell's 1,543 (national media called the race for Risch within seconds of the polls closing), and Second District Congressman Mike Simpson earned 3,638 votes locally to Democratic challenger, Dick Stallings, who garnered 1,579 votes in Elmore County.

In other state races, Otter's running mate, Lt. Gov. Brad Little received 3,553 votes in Elmore County to Democrat Bert Marley's 1,365 and 266 votes for Constitutionalist Party candidate David Hartigan.

For secretary of state, Lawrence Denny earned 3,108 votes locally to Democrat Holli Woodings' 2,037.

For state treasurer, Republican incumbent Ron Crane got 3,357 votes in Elmore Coutnty to Democrat challenger Deborah Silver's 1,770.

For attorney general, Republican incumbent Lawrence Wasden defeated Democrat Bruce Bistline locally by a 3,704-1,404 margin.

Republican Brandon Woolf, unopposed for state controller, received 4,347 votes in Elmore County.

For Fourth District Judge, Elmore County voters favored Samuel Hoagland over Rebecca Arnold by a 2,769-1,888 margin.

The constitutional amendment on the ballot was rejected in Elmore County 2,472-2,367.