Bob Yoder wins supervisor primary in Washington County

WASHINGTON — Bob Yoder has won the primary race for Washington County District 2 Supervisor, queuing him up for a near-certain reelection in November, where no Democratic challenger has registered to oppose him.

The incumbent of 11 years campaigned largely on his experience, despite criticism from opponent Jake Snider claiming he was underprepared for meetings and seldom took a firm stance on issues. Most voters seemed to buy Yoder’s pitch, however, in a 149-50 tally according to unofficial results announced by the county Tuesday night.

The result came after the first unofficial tally also reported Yoder’s victory, but failed to include any absentee ballots, according to county officials.

“It took the voters to do it, I give them the credit,” he said. “I always thought I had a lot of good people behind me, it wasn’t just what Bob did, it was all the people that were with me. And I really appreciate the voters giving me the support that they did.”

Elsewhere, June 4 was a fairly quiet day at Washington County’s voting locations. Poll workers at the Washington YMCA said they’d counted just 27 ballots by 12:30 p.m., hours after polls opened at 7 in the morning.

Uncontested local candidates won their respective races with little fanfare. That means Republican Supervisors Jack Seward Jr. and Stan Stoops are teed up for uneventful re-elections in November, as are County Attorney Nathan Repp and Sheriff Jared Schneider. The same is likely true for Deputy Auditor Tammy Stewart, in her first-ever bid for County Auditor, with no Democratic challengers in the running for any county-level office.

While Washington County’s state legislative races were uncontested Tuesday night, they’ll likely heat up in the coming months, with both parties’ candidates now locked in for a general election race amid a backdrop of increasingly divisive policies on abortion, school curriculum and immigration among other issues.

State Rep. Heather Hora and Democratic challenger Anna Banowsky are poised to face off in November, while Republican State Sen. Dawn Driscoll will have to defend her seat from challenger Ed Chabal.

At the federal level, Tuesday night saw Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, a Republican, deal with opposition from within her party for the first time on a ballot for Iowa’s U.S. House District 1. Her opponent, David Pautsch, was a further-right conservative who criticized the lawmaker for her vote in favor a 2022 bill recognizing same-sex marriages, and for supporting limited exceptions to abortion bans, which he said should be more strict. In one meeting with Mt. Pleasant Rotarians, Pautsch claimed Miller-Meeks “votes like a communist.”

National news outlets called the race in favor of Miller-Meeks around 10 p.m. Most pundits correctly predicted a victory for the incumbent, whose opponent had a little over $6,000 in a campaign fund by late May, compared to her $1.8 million war chest.

Pautsch did manage to carry Washington County, however, in a 350-324 outcome, according to unofficial results released Tuesday night.

The representative will have a rematch with Democrat Christina Bohannan — who won her own uncontested primary on Tuesday — come November. The Republican beat Bohannan by just six votes in 2020, but won with a more solid margin in 2022, and hopes to do so again this year.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com