No competition yet for 17 elected offices

Adam Rollins, Staff Writer
Posted 12/22/22

With less than a week remaining for candidates to register for local city government, school board, and emergency service elections, more than a dozen elections only have one person running for …

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No competition yet for 17 elected offices

Posted

With less than a week remaining for candidates to register for local city government, school board, and emergency service elections, more than a dozen elections only have one person running for office. Two elections don’t have any candidate at all.

Dec. 27 is the last day for candidates to register for local elections. Registration is done through the office of each individual entity, with the exception of ambulance district filing, which is done at the Warren County Clerk’s Office.

One competition heating

One of the only elections seeing a lot of action from candidates is a competition for three seats on the Wright City R-II School Board. Late last week, incumbent Heidi Hallemann became the fourth candidate to enter the race. She’s the only incumbent to sign up so far.
Newcomer Kyle Lewis also added his name to the contest. Already on the ballot were Frank Zykan, Beth Dean, and Monica Hepperman.

Two elections devoid of contenders

The city of Truesdale is notably short on candidates for its board of aldermen. Every year, the city elects two board members; incumbent Alderman Jerry Cannon has registered for re-election, but fellow Alderman Robert Green has not put his name on the ballot in the two weeks since candidate filing opened. No new condenters have come forward, either, leaving just one candidate for two board seats.

Warren County Ambulance District also has a board seat in need of a candidate. Incumbent Jonathan Laubert hasn’t signed up to continue representing the region of Innsbrook and east-central Warren County that’s labeled Subdistrict 4, and no one else has put their name on that ballot, either.

Uncontested elections

Numerous other elections in Warren County only have the minimum number of candidates needed to fill their offices. Most of the candidates (but not all) are incumbents who are signing up to run for a new term. The uncontested elections, and their candidates, are:

Warrenton mayor: Eric Schleuter
Warrenton alderman, Ward 2: Steven Cullom
Wright City alderman, Ward 2: Kim Arbuthnot (who is a new candidate. Incumbent Nathan Rohr has not filed.)
Marthasville mayor and two aldermen: Mayor David Lange and Aldermen Leo Meyer and Gary Dixon
Truesdale mayor: Chris Watson
Innsbrook Board of Trustees: Cynthia Cook (incumbent), Dan Reuter (incumbent), and Michael Wally (new). (Incumbent Jeffry Thomsen hasn't registered.)
Warren County Ambulance Board, Subdistrict 1: Diane Grimes
Marthasville Ambulance Board, Subdistricts 1 and 4: Larry Brewe and Camille Johnson, respectively
Warrenton Fire District: Malissa Booth (for a four-year term) and Laura McIntosh (for a six-year term)

Contested races

And these are the elections so far that have more candidates than open seats, making them a competition:

Warren County R-III School Board, three seats: Franci Schwartz (incumbent), Carolyn Spraggs (new), Keith Harbison (new), Rich Barton (incumbent)
Wright City R-II School Board, three seats: See “One competition heating” above.
Warrenton alderman, Ward 1: Larry Corder (incumbent) and Pat Mahon (new)
Warrenton alderman, Ward 3: Jeff Jaspering (incumbent) and Roger Romaker (new)
Wright City alderman, Ward 1: Don Andrews (incumbent) and Susan Traylor (new)

Elections

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