Sheriff Patrick Ray and County Mayor Tim Stribling have been returned to office while Randy Hale won his first term as road superintendent and Susan Martin was elected as the new circuit court clerk. Meanwhile, Smithville alderman Josh Miller defeated incumbent mayor Jimmy Poss to become the city’s next mayor, while the county commission has been turned upside down with new faces winning the day.
In the race for sheriff, Ray won handily, topping Democratic opponent Michael Agee by a count of 3,650 to 963.
Meanwhile, incumbent County Mayor Tim Stribling, coming off a seven-vote win the Democratic Primary had more breathing room this time, beating Randy Paris by a count of 3,123 to 1,346.
The race of county road supervisor was much closer as Republican Randy Hale defeated Democrat Jimmy Sprague by a margin of 2,417 to 2,222.
Taking her first term as circuit court clerk, Susan Martin won handily over Nicole Wright, 2,940 to 1,540.
The race for Smithville city mayor ended up being close with Josh Miller getting 519 votes, topping incumbent Jimmy Poss who had 415 while Curtis Rust had 71 votes. Gayla Hendrix was returned to her aldermanic spot without opposition while Brandon J. Cox was elected to his first term as alderman without opposition.
The county commission will look a lot different this year as only four incumbents will return. In the first district, incumbent Julie Young will return as she got the second most votes behind Dennis Slager who will join her on the commission. In the second everyone will be new as Sabrina Farler and Myron Rhody edged out Nora Harvey for the two spots. In the third, it is also all new commissioners as Jenny Trapp got the most votes followed by Bobby G. Johnson. Renee Steff missed out by finishing third. The fourth is also new with Janice Fish-Stewart getting first and Scott Little second with Greg Matthew finishing short at third. The fifth district is the only district where all incumbents returned with Jerry D. Adcock and Anita Puckett getting the most votes. Lloyd Emmons and William Rutherford finished third and fourth.
The sixth saw Jeff Barnes get returned but saw Betty Jean Atnip fall short as Matt Adcock edged her out for the seat. In the seventh, incumbent Larry Summers was defeated by Beth Pafford and Bruce Malone.
In the lone school board seat up for grabs, incumbent Jerry W. Johnson was ousted by challenger Thomas Alan Hayes in the second district by a count of 362 to 267.
Meanwhile in a race that was not on the ballot, incumbent Alexandria Mayor Bennett Armstrong was returned to office, winning a write-in battle over Donna Davis, 34-28. Shane Blair, Lloyd Dale Dyer and Bridgett Rogers were elected to the aldermanic posts there.
Dwight Mathis was elected Mayor of Liberty by a count of 70 to 50 over Darrell W. Johnson with Dwayne Blair, J.D. Bratten, Derek Johnson, Jason H. Ray and William Howard Reynolds Jr. being elected aldermen without opposition. Ronald L. Griffith was elected mayor of Dowelltown without opposition.
In one party committee race of local import, incumbent Jennifer Franklin Winfree was unseated from the 17th District Republican Executive Council by Trent Nicholson.
