Jeremy Ratliff
Reporter
In the wake of a spring election day boasting high voter turnouts in Lincoln County, preliminary results are yielding familiar faces in local contested races.
In terms of the presidential primary, Bernie Sanders looks to be the county’s choice in the democratic party after garnering 58.2% of voters with a total of 2,439. Hillary Clinton trailed Sanders with 41.4% of voters, and 1,732 votes.
On the Republican side, Donald J. Trump overcame an initial deficit to Ted Cruz, to top Cruz with 49% of voters in his favor and 3,060 total votes. Cruz finished the night with 40.3% of voters in his favor and 2,518 total votes.
Lincoln County residents chose Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca G. Bradley over challenger Joanne F. Kloppenburg by considerable margin, as Bradley received 5,558 votes over Kloppenburg’s 4,272 total votes.
Locally, Tyler R. Mueller is shaping up to succeed Ryan Schwartzman as the next 3rd District Lincoln County Board Supervisor, defeating challenger Ray Bloomer 180-108.
The county’s District 17 seat looks to be taken by Kevin Koth, defeating Don Nelson by a considerable 351-167 vote margin. Another Tomahawk area contested race has resulted in another new face for the county board room, as Patricia Voermans appears to have defeated Terry Wiese (415-228).
Bill Jelinek looks to be the next Town of Bradley supervisor after defeating Robert Eisenman (716-539) and Tony Fischer appears to have defeated Mike Rick (750-490) in the Town of Merrill Supervisor race.
The Merrill Common Council looks to remain intact amongst contested races as incumbent Pete Lokemoen has defeated Amanda Kostman for the 2nd District seat 213-131. Current council president and 5th District alderman John A. Burgener has defeated challenger John Kaufman (165-128). In the 7th District, incumbent Rob Norton appears to be retaining his seat for another term after defeating Ray Bloomer (245-116).