Brown and Tutvedt win local senate races

District 3 county commissioner race too close to call

Former state representative and Coram RV campground owner Dee Brown pulled out an easy victory over Whitefish area state representative Bill Beck in the Republican primary race for Senate District 2.

Unofficial results from the Flathead County Election Department with all 42 precincts tallied gave Brown 49 percent of the vote in the district that encompasses Columbia Falls, Whitefish and rural areas in between, the North Fork and the Canyon.

Beck had 37 percent of the vote, and Suzanne Brooks of Whitefish tallied 12 percent. Brown will face Democrat Dave Fern, who ran unopposed in the primary, in the November general election.

In highly contested the Senate District 3 race, which includes rural areas south of Columbia Falls and surrounding Whitefish, incumbent Bruce Tutvedt narrowly held off challenger Rollan Roberts II, who may have spent the most money of all state legislative candidates this primary year.

Tutvedt garnered 45 percent of the vote to Roberts’ 43 percent. Jayson Peters, who earlier announced his withdrawal, got 11 percent of the vote. Tutvedt will face Democrat Shannon Hanson, of Whitefish, who ran unopposed in the primary, in November.

Voter turnout in Flathead County for the primary was 33 percent, with 19,496 ballots cast, including 14,945 Republican ballots and 4,551 Democratic ballots. A total of 57,776 residents are registered voters in Flathead County.

Two of the county’s three commissioner seats and two of the four judge positions in Flathead County District Court were up for grabs in this unusual election year. Thirteen Republicans entered the commissioner race, including eight for the north valley seat held by Jim Dupont, who died in March. Both commissioner seats were chosen by valleywide voting.

Cal Scott, who was chosen by commissioners Dale Lauman and Pam Holmquist to be interim commissioner until after the November election, edged out Kirk Gentry for the north valley seat with 23 percent of the vote to Gentry’s 21 percent.

They were followed by Glenn Kolodejchuk with 15 percent, Doug Adams 12 percent, Mike Shepard 11 percent, Ben Stormes 10 percent, Chris Hyatt (who had withdrawn from the race) 3 percent and Rod Bernhardson 1 percent. The winner will face Democrat Gil Jordan in November.

In a race that was too close to call, Gary Krueger and Jay Scott were neck and neck in the south valley’s Republican commissioner race. Krueger tallied 3,636 votes or 26.71 percent to Scott’s 3,621 or 26.60 percent. With a 15-vote difference, the race could go to a recount after all ballots, including provisional ballots, are canvassed next week.

According to state law, ballots in an election for a county office go to an automatic recount if the margin is not more than 10 votes or 1/4 of 1 percent of the total vote, whichever is greater. The defeated candidate must request the recount within five days of the official canvass.

Krueger and Scott were followed by Bob Herron 17 percent, Mike Schlegel 14 percent and Terry Kramer 14 percent. The winner will face Democrat Clara Mears-LaChappelle in November.

The top-two winners in the nonpartisan judge elections will face each other again in November. In the three-way race for Department 2, Kalispell attorney Robert Allison tallied 45 percent of the vote, Flathead County Justice of the Peace Daniel Wilson got 34 percent and Kalispell attorney Bruce Fredrickson got 19 percent. In the two-way Department 3 race, Kalispell city judge Heidi Ulbricht got 66 percent, and Kalispell attorney Vanessa Ceravolo got 33 percent.

In the contested statewide elections, former Congressman Rick Hill easily won the Republican race for governor with 35 percent of the vote. He was followed by Corey Stapleton 18 percent, Ken Miller 17 percent, Jim O’Hara 13 percent, Neal Livingstone 9 percent, Jim Lynch 6 percent and Bob Fanning 2 percent. Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock easily won the Democratic side of the governor race with 87 percent.

Bozeman businessman Steve Daines easily won the Republican race for U.S. Representative with 71 percent of the vote, followed by Eric Brosten 18 percent and Vincent Melkus 10 percent. State senator Kim Gillan easily won the Democratic race with 31 percent. She was followed by Franke Wilmer 19 percent, Diane Smith 16 percent, Dave Strohmaier 14 percent and Sam Rankin 12 percent.

In the Republican race for Montana Secretary of State, Brad Johnson easily won with 55 percent of the vote to Scott Aspenlieder with 23 percent, Patty Lovaas 15 percent and Drew Turiano 7 percent. Johnson will face Democratic incumbent Linda McCulloch in November.

Tim Fox easily won the Republican race for Montana Attorney General with 58 percent of the vote to Jim Shockley’s 42 percent. Democratic candidates Pam Bucy narrowly defeated Jesse Laslovich by 583 votes after they were neck and neck at 50 percent apiece in the preliminary results.

In the race for state auditor, incumbent Democrat Monica Lindeen and Republican challenger Derek Skees ran unopposed. Skees, of Kalispell, is currently the representative for House District 4, urban Whitefish.

In the race for state superintendent of public instruction, incumbent Democrat Denise Juneau and Republican challenger Sandy Welch, of Martin City, ran unopposed.

The three-way race for Montana Supreme Court justice was very tight, with Ed Sheehy leading at 35 percent over Laurie McKinnon with 33 percent and Elizabeth Best at 32 percent. The top-two candidates in the nonpartisan race will face each other in the November election.