Voters hit polls for last week’s primary election

A new face will represent Iowa’s 4th Congressional District after the General Election in November.

At last Tuesday’s primary election, District 4 candidate Randy Feenstra, a former Iowa State Senator from District 2, unseated incumbent Steve King for the Republican nomination, collecting 36,797 total votes, or 45.7 percent of the votes. King finished with 28,977. King has held a Representative spot since 2003. Jeremy Taylor, Bret Richards and Steve Reeder also ran for the spot.

In Franklin County, Feenstra collected 432 votes to King’s 395.

At the November 3 election, Feenstra will go head to head with Democratic candidate J.D. Scholten, who ran unopposed in this year’s primary. In the 2018 District 4 race, Scholten narrowly lost to King, collecting 47 percent of the vote.

Locally, Shannon Latham, Republican and Karen Koenig, Democrat, will square off for the Iowa House of Representatives District 54 seat at the November 3 election. Latham ran unopposed for the Republican nod and Koenig beat out Kai Brost for the Democratic spot. Koenig collected 88.8 percent of the vote, or 1,456 votes, to Brost’s 11.2 percent. Koenig charted 446 votes in Franklin County to Brost’s 47. Incumbent Linda Upmeyer opted to not seek reelection since serving with the Iowa House of Representatives since 2003.

In an email to the Hampton Chronicle, Latham said she was honored to have the trust of Republican voters and aims to turn that support into tireless work for the area should she win the election in November.

“I am so humbled by the outpouring of support for my candidacy and I want to thank the many people who have and who are helping spread our positive messages,” she said. “We need strong, thriving communities, good schools and access to quality and affordable healthcare and we also need to meet our infrastructure needs and so much more.”

In Franklin County, District 3 Supervisor Cory Eberling’s bid for reelection was cut down by Chris Vanness, who gained 259 votes to Eberling’s 179. No Democratic candidate ran for the spot.

Incumbent Aaron Dodd ran unopposed for the Republican nomination for Franklin County Sheriff, with no candidates seeking the Democratic spot. Republican candidate Katy Flint also ran unopposed for the Franklin County Auditor position. No Democratic candidate ran for the Auditor spot.