In Nez Perce County, Bob Tippett and Doug Zenner were winners in the race for commission seats.
Tippett ousted first-term incumbent Mike Grow in the four-way Republican primary race for the District 1 seat. Tippett won the primary with 40.7 percent, compared to 24.3 percent for Grow, 20.7 percent for Steve Jenkins, and 14.2 percent for David Estes. Tippett faces Democrat Kevin Kelly in the general election.
In the District 3 race, Republican incumbent Zenner won a fourth term, receiving 50.2 percent of the vote to outdistance Bob Hasenoehrl’s 32.8 percent, and Jim Finley’s 17 percent. Zenner’s win puts him in the District 3 commission position for another four years, as no Democrats or independents filed for the position.
In the race for Nez Perce County sheriff, Republican sheriff’s deputy Joe Rodriguez received 59 percent of the vote to advance to November’s general election. Rodriguez, who beat Michael Roberts, will face Democrat incumbent Dale Buttrey. Buttrey ran unopposed in Tuesday’s primary.
The county’s first-ever closed primary captured a record absentee turnout for a primary of more than 1,002 absentee voters, a number that easily beat the previous record of 658. However, overall Election Day turnout of 17-point-9 percent fell short of the 20 percent in 2010 and 18-point-5 percent in 2008.
