It was a solid win for Brandon Shoupe in his bid for Houston County Commission chairman in Tuesday’s Republican primary election.
District 3 Commissioner Ricky Herring, however, is headed to a runoff.
Shoupe – the current District 4 county commissioner – had 57.76% or 8,999 votes. District 2 County Commissioner Doug Sinquefield had 30.58% of the total votes or 4,765. Businessman Bobby Lewis took 11.66% of votes cast, or 1,817.
There were no Democrats seeking the countywide chairman’s seat.
All precincts were in by 9:30 p.m., leaving only the provisional ballots to be counted next week.
While statewide races such as the governor’s race and the U.S. Senate seat received a lot of attention, Houston County voters had their share of local races to decide during Tuesday's primary election.
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Current Commission Chairman Mark Culver chose not to seek re-election, opening up the countywide office. Because Sinquefield and Shoupe decided to run for the chairman’s seat that left both of those district seats open.
On the Republican ballot for the District 2 Houston County Commission, Tracy Adams won with 2,266 or 58.87% of votes and Chris Love had 1,583 or 41.13%.
James Ivey won the District 4 seat with 2,654 or 54.22% of votes while Vanita McLain received 2,241 or 45.78% of votes cast in that Republican primary race.
District 3 Commissioner Ricky Herring will go to a runoff on June 21 against Richard Talley. With five candidates running in that Republican race, Herring received 2,238 votes, or 47.78% votes. Talley followed with 1,039 or 22.18% of votes.
There are no Democrats seeking the District 2, District 3, or District 4 commission seats.
On the Democratic ballot, Curtis Harvey won re-election in the commission’s District 1. Harvey ended the night with 560 votes, or 56.8%, with opponent Earl Jones receiving 426 votes, or 43.2%.
Houston County Board of Education member David Hollinger won re-election in the Democratic primary with 128 votes, or 59.53% compared to opponent Jeffery Leon Macon, who received 87 votes, or 40.47%.
In other local Republican races, both Houston County Sheriff Donald Valenza and Coroner Robert Byrd won in their races.
Valenza won with 13,644 or 85.29% to opponent Randy Anderson’s 2,354 or 14.71%.
Byrd received 52.82% – 8,457 votes – to win his bid for re-election. His opponent Kendall Glover had 47.13% or 7,538 votes.
Tuesday's voter turnout, despite the threat of rain late in the day, was on par with past election cycles when the Alabama governor’s seat has been up for election, Houston County Probate Judge Patrick Davenport said.
“It’s not as high as we would like to see, but it’s consistent with a gubernatorial cycle,” Davenport said.
From a technical perspective, Davenport said the primary election day had gone smoothly.
“Fortunately, today, we’ve had very little incidents,” he said.
Peggy Ussery is a Dothan Eagle staff writer and can be reached at aussery@dothaneagle.com or 334-712-7963. Support her work and that of other Eagle journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at dothaneagle.com.
