By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Interim county commissioner Kent Becker, with 452 votes, won Tuesday’s election by a 2-1 margin over the next contender, Larry Cushenbery, who garnered 219 votes.

Coming in only 28 votes behind Cushenbery was Craig Dodd, with 192 votes. All are Republicans.

Overall Becker got 52.4 percent of votes, followed by Cushenbery with 25.4 percent, and Dodd with 22.2 percent.

Becker carried every precinct in his district except Logan. Dodd did not prevail in any precinct.

Becker didn’t go to the courthouse as votes were tallied, though commissioners Dianne Novak and Randy Dallke were there to watch results come in.

“I had some fairly stiff opposition, but I knew I had a good core of support,” Becker said. “You just don’t know until election time. I didn’t feel it was necessary to be there. Several people texted me information. My campaign treasurer was down there.”

Incumbent House District 74 Representative Don Schroeder went down in defeat. Contender Stephen Owens topped him 726 to 606 in Marion County and took 55 percent of district-wide voting when 36 of 38 precincts were counted.

In other Marion County results:

Laura Kelly outran other Democratic contenders for Governor, while Jeff Colyer took top votes in the Republican race.

Republican candidate Ken Selzer, from Goessel, carried Menno and West Branch precincts, with 353 votes countywide, making him third place in the county.

Robert D’Andrea outpaced Ben Jones, 1,024 to 777, in the Republican race for State Board of Education District 7.

Clark Shultz bested Vicki Schmidt in the Republican race for Insurance Commissioner by 1,187 to 875.

Scott Schwab garnered the most votes in the Republican race for Secretary of State with 652, followed by Randy Duncan with 600.

In the Republican race for U.S. House of Representatives, incumbent Roger Marshall whipped contender Nick Reinecher by a margin of 3-1, with Marshall getting 1,575 votes to Reinecker’s 499.