Incumbents, one newcomer, advance in Floyd County Council races

By CHRIS MORRIS
Chris.Morris@newsandtribune.com

May 07, 2008 10:12 am

— Five political veterans and one newcomer will slug it out in the fall for three Floyd County Council At-Large seats.
All three incumbents advanced following Tuesday’s primary vote. Democrat Randy Stumler collected 8,574 votes, 19.6 percent, while fellow incumbent Carol Shope finished second with 6,056 votes, 13.8 percent. The third Democrat to advance was former council member Ted Heavrin who garnered 5,540 votes, 12.7 percent. Nine Democrats ran for three spots.
Republican Councilwoman Dana Fendley advanced by collecting 1,359 votes, 19.6 percent. First-time candidate Larry Summer paced the Republican council ticket with 1,412 votes, 20.4 percent. The third Republican to advance was veteran politician Harry Harbison who got 1,347 votes, 19.4 percent.
Stumler, who is seeking his third term, said he felt a lot better than he did in 2006 when Mark Seabrook defeated him in the Floyd County Commissioners race. He also said the interest in the presidential race helped all Democrats.
“I think the wild card are all the first-time people who have gotten involved,” he said. “I don’t see those people going away in the fall. People are talking about Democrats now.”
He also said experience does count.
“I have a reference of what we’re (the council) facing in 2009,” he said.
Shope said she has been working for three months in her bid for re-election.
“I worked really hard,” she said. “I was the only female on the ticket and I think that helped. I am absolutely thrilled.”
Heavrin said with several Hillary Clinton supporters voting, female candidates seemed to have an advantage Tuesday.
“Women came out and voted for women,” he said. “I had a lot of support and a lot of people worked for me.”
Fendley said with six candidates on the Republican ballot, and with Republicans crossing over to vote Democrat, she was a little concerned about Tuesday’s outcome. County-wide, 19,308 voted in the Democrat primary while only 3,169 residents voted Republican.
“I didn’t take it for granted,” Fendley said. “I was surprised by the number of votes that were not cast. That could have affected the outcome.”
Fendley praised the efforts of Summers who savored victory at the Calumet Club in his first primary.
“He earned it,” she said. “He went door to door, put out signs and worked hard. And Harry did a lot of work. The people who got it, earned it.”
Summers said he was “quite pleased” with the results since it was his first time in the political arena.
He said he put up nearly 200 signs and knocked on 60 to 80 doors a week for the past month to try and make voters more aware of his candidacy.
“I have worked pretty hard at it,” he said.
He also said he feels good about his chances in the fall.
“It will depend on swing voters from Democrats,” he said. “I have talked to a lot of Democrats and they seem to like me. I will just try to sway them over.”
 While many races were uncontested Tuesday, that won’t be the case in the fall. For County Commissioner District 2, Democrat Chuck Freiberger will go up against Republican Dave Matthews while in District 3, Republican Steve Bush will square off against Democrat Dennis Roudenbush. Other races include: Treasurer, Republican Linda Berger and Democrat Bette Buechler; Recorder, Republican Lois Naville Endris and Democrat Darlene McCoy. Republican William Gibson is unopposed in the race for surveyor.

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