ELECTION UPDATES: Unofficial primary results roll in

This November's local contests for state representative take shape after Tuesday's primary wins

Updated 8:45 a.m. ET, Aug. 7, 2024

November's general election contest for the 64th District state representative race looks clear: Republican Joe Pavlov, a retired Marysville teacher, will face Democrat John Anter, a long-time Port Huron resident and member of the city's planning commission, who each won 31.8% and 58.4% of their respective primary votes.

On the GOP side, Pavlov topped the crowded primary, edging out four other candidates, including outgoing St. Clair County Commissioner Jorja Baldwin and former state lawmaker Gary Eisen.

According to St. Clair County's unofficial results, those Republican vote totals were as follows:

• Joe Pavlov: 3,616
• Jorja Baldwin: 3,396
• Gary Eisen: 3,260
• Ryan Maxon: 561
• Dan Geiersbach: 519

According to a local precinct break down, Baldwin had the most votes in Burtchville Township, Fort Gratiot, and the city of Port Huron's three northern-most voting precincts, while Pavlov carried Marysville, as well as Port Huron's fourth through seventh precincts and ninth and 10th.

Eisen won in Clyde, Grant, St. Clair townships, and Port Huron's eighth precinct. Kimball and Port Huron townships' results varied between the top three vote-getters.

In just Sanilac County, where the 64th represents Worth Township, Baldwin was the top vote-getter with 185 votes to Pavlov's 177 and Eisen's 141. Maxon and Geiersbach received 33 and 32 in Sanilac.

The voting total overall for the top three was Pavlov with 3,793, Baldwin with 3,581, and Eisen with 3,401.

On the 64th's Democratic side, the St. Clair County vote totals were:

• John Anter: 3,102
• Mathew Castillo: 1,456
• Ken Heuvelman: 704

Overall, including Sanilac County, Anter won with 3,204 votes to Castillo's 1,523 and Heuvelman's 755. He was the top vote-getter in all local precincts except Clyde Township's second and St. Clair Township's first, where Castillo narrowly prevailed.

Anter and Pavlov go to vote to replace outgoing state Rep. Andrew Beeler, R-Port Huron. In addition to the St. Clair County seat, the district entails the city of Marysville, as well as the township's of Burtchville, Clyde, Fort Gratiot, Grant, Kimball, Port Huron, and St. Clair.

In just St. Clair County, first-term incumbent Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Township, beat challenger Michael Zoran 6,125-1,280 for the Republican nomination in the 63rd District for state House.

That district emcompasses a northern piece of Macomb County and the southern tip of St. Clair County, including all of China, Clay, Cottrellville, East China, and Ira townships, half of Casco Township, and the cities of Algonac, Marine City, and St. Clair.

Including Macomb County, DeBoyer won 10,191-2,144 overall. The former St. Clair County clerk will go on to face unchallenged Democrat Robert Kelly-McFarland in November.

In the state House's 65th district, which includes some of St. Clair County, incumbent Republican Jaime Greene and Democrat Shirley Tomczak ran this primary unopposed.

Former long-time supervisor in China Township wins Republican nod in return election bid

Updated at 8 a.m. ET, Aug. 7, 2024

China Township Supervisor John Golan was narrowly edged out by Linda Schweihofer, a former long-time township official, in a 490-348 vote in Tuesday's Republican primary election, according to unofficial election results.

Schweihofer had previously been supervisor since the 1990s before she was unseated by Golan in 2020's general election when she ran as a Democrat.

While Republicans Clerk Sharon Martin and Treasurer Deanna Moran were the only listed candidates for their office in Tuesday's election, the following are the results for the crowded township trustee GOP primary race:

• Dan Turke: 442
• Edward Neiman: 428
• Ronald Beier: 344
• Lauren Martin: 270
• Catherin King: 265
• Julia Rust: 259
• Mary Harris: 212
• Vivian Sikowski: 137

Beier, King, Neiman and Turke are incuments in the trustee office. The four highest vote-getters move on to vie for the four seats in November with Barbara Golan, the lone trustee candidate for Democrat in Tuesday's primary.

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Sheriff Mat King beats GOP challenger Warren Head in primary, joins incumbents in November

Updated 7:45 a.m. ET, Aug. 7, 2024

St. Clair County Sheriff Mat King is poised to keep his position after topping challenger Warren Head, who's Yale's police chief, with 55.78% of Tuesday's Republican primary vote.

The two went head-to-head with King winning 13,584-10,725, according to unofficial results, in one of the larger contest in the county this election.

King is amid his first full term as sheriff after being the only candidate to replace former sheriff, Tim Donnellon, in 2000.

The term for sheriff is four years; as is county prosecutor, clerk, treasuer, drain commissioner, and surveyor.

Prosecutor Mike Wendling, Treasurer Kelly Roberts-Burnett, and Surveyor Justin Rhein were unchallenged in Tuesday's GOP primary, while Republican Clerk Angie Waters beat challenger Debbie Rhein 13,963-7,292. There were no listed Democratic ,candidates in those races.

For drain commissioner, incumbent Republican Bob Wiley was running as a write-in candidate along with Eileen Tesch, whereas Mark W. Smith ran for the position as a Democratic write-in.

There were 1,247 Democratic write-in votes and 3,667 on the GOP side, according to unofficial results listed by the clerk. However, individual names were not displayed. The county clerk's office cound't be immediatley reached about those results as of 7:45 a.m.

Challengers narrowly top incumbent officials in Clay Township

Updated 7:30 a.m. ET, Aug. 7, 2024

According to unofficial restuls, challengers for Clay Township supervisor, clerk, and treasurer narrowly won over incumbents in Tuesday's Republican primary.

Paul Cassidy beat long-time Supervisor Artie Bryson 1,234-1,058, Tanya Hogan beat Clerk Cindy Valentine 1,154-1,030, and by less than 100 votes, Jerry Galka won over Treasurer Kristi Hiltunen 1,098-1,039.

Voting results in the GOP contest for township trustee was as follows:

• Jon DeBoyer: 1,248
• Mark Borchardt: 937
• Maureen Boury: 921
• Brian Campbell: 916
• George Rose: 883
• Chris O'Regan: 855
• Mike Booth: 738
• Justin Higgins: 430

The top four vote-getters move on to November's general election to vie for four trustee seats with Democrat David Sluka, who was the only candidate in his local primary.

DeBoyer, Borchardt, and Boury were incuments, while Campbell was a newcomer in Tuesday's GOP bid. O'Regan was also an incumbent.

Long-time county board chairman ousted; other incumbents, one newcomer head to November

Updated 7 a.m. ET, Aug. 7, 2024

While incumbent St. Clair County Commissioners Lisa Beedon, Joi Torello, and Dave Vandenbossche won their primary bids on Tuesday, the county board's long-time chairman, Jeff Bohm, saw a narrow loss at the polls from challenger Robert Fielitz in the District 5 Republican primary.

Fielitz received 2,260 votes to Bohm's 1,998, according to unofficial election results posted by the county, in a district that represents the city of St. Clair, East China and St. Clair townships, and precincts 2, 3, and 4 in Kimball Township.

Bohm has chaired the county board of commissioners for most of the 20 years he's served.

In District 4, which entails Marysville, Port Huron Township, and Kimball's first precinct, Torello won her Republican nod 1,710-1,353 over Harry "Duke" Dunn, a former commissioner who'd come back to challenge her after Torello first unseated him in 2022.

Also, in District 7, Vandenbossche topped GOP challenger Tiffany Turke 2,688-1,711. That district includes the cities of Algonac and Marine City, as well as China, Clay, and Cottrellville townships.

Local attorney Kerry Ange narrowly edged out Tri-Hospital CEO Ken Cummings 1,396-1,235 in Ditrict 2's GOP primary for a seat that'd replace outgoing Commissioner Jorja Baldwin, who ran for state representative. Fellow Republican candidates David Hoffman and Steve Tebay, of Fort Gratiot, followed with 503 and 310 votes.

Sitting Commissioners Steve Simasko and Dave Rushing in districts 1 and 6 had no Republican challengers in Tuesday's primary. There were also no listed Democratic challengers for November in all districts but one, meaning Simasko, Torello, Fielitz, Rushing, and Vandenbossche may go on to the general election unchallenged.

The only contest for county commissioner come November, according to listed candidates so far, will be in District 3, which represents the lower seven precincts in Port Huron, between Republican Cliff Schrader, who was unopposed in Tuesday's primary, and Democratic Commissioner Lisa Beedon, who won her bid over challenger Darrin Rushing.

Moving forward, county commissioners will serve four-year terms instead of two years.

Montgomery tops GOP primary for Fort Gratiot supervisor

Updated 10:45 p.m. ET, Aug. 6, 2024

According to unofficial results, Rob Montgomery has won the Republican primary for township supervisor in Fort Gratiot with 1,276 votes over fellow GOP hopefuls Nathan Oprita and Thomas Schlitts, who received 432 and 263 votes, respectively.

With no listed Democratic candidates listed this election, the Republican bidder goes on to November's general election unchallenged. Montgomery, a former township trustee, would replace Rob Crawford, who ran for trustee this year to formall retire from the full-time statutory position.

Crawford was the highest vote-getter among the Republican primary candidates for trustee with 1,075 votes. He's followed by incumbent Trustees Scott Bradley, Linda Bruckner, and AJ Armbruster with 1,025, 954, and 888 votes, respectively. Trustee challengers Michael Levey, David Norris, and Mark Smith received 299, 464, and 735 votes.

Only the top four trustee vote-getters, however, would be slated to move on to November's general election ballot to vie for four open seats.

The results for the treasurer's Republican primary in Fort Gratiot showed current Treasurer George Wells edging out challenger Michaela Garand 923-909.

Township Clerk Bob Buechler was unchallenged this primary, and there were no listed Democrats.

Beedon tops Democratic challenger in District 3 county board primary

Updated 10:30 p.m. ET, Aug. 6, 2024

Incumbent St. Clair County Commissioner Lisa Beedon has won the Democratic nod in her bid for re-election over primary challenger Darrin Rushing in the county board's 3rd district.

According to unofficial election results, Lisa won 374-76, or 82.56% of the vote in the district, which represents the southern-most seven precincts in the city of Port Huron. As of of 10:30 p.m., results for all seven of those precincts were listed as uploaded on the county election results page.

The winner of the primary goes on to face Republican Cliff Schrader, who unchallenged and received 607 votes this primary.

There were 17 write-in responses in the Republican District 3 results, while there was three on the Democratic side.

With the polls closed, here's how to watch for results

Updated 8:30 p.m. ET, Aug. 6, 2024

With the polls now closed, it may be a while before local clerks begin to upload results.

Unofficial results — both local primary races and St. Clair County's totals for state-level races — will appear online through the county clerk's election website under the election tab of StClairCountyClerk.org .

Ahead of the polls closing, the results page was last updated at 10:05 a.m. Tuesday, but St. Clair County's page through the Enhanced Voting delivery platform was expected to auto-refresh as it's updated in real time.

A list of results for contested races will be included through The Times Herald 's live coverage.

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Rain doesn't dissuade voters ahead of polls' closure

Updated 5:51 p.m. ET, Aug. 6, 2024

PORT HURON — There are still a couple of hours left before the polls closed for Tuesday’s primary election for those looking to cast a ballot for their choice of Democratic or Republican candidates and a host of local millage requests.

And luckily, much of the day’s intermittent rainfall has largely cleared up, according to the National Weather Service, for those hoping to join the post-workday rush of voters.

Kimball resident Jediah Baker, the campaign manager for state representative candidate Joe Pavlov, said he’d been outside Griswold Street Baptist Church, the location for Port Huron’s 8th and 9th precincts, since 6:45 a.m. Tuesday.

Early on, he thought there may have been fewer people turning out to vote because of the rain. By 4 p.m., however, a steadier stream had begun to arrive.

“It (became) a little bit slower around like nine o’clock (when) it was really coming down, where people slowed down a bit or they sat in their cars and they waited for it to clear up,” Baker said. “But they started seeing people pull out their umbrellas. They started running toward the doors, and we were just joking all along. … It has been great. And I think a lot of times people let little things get in their way. But I haven’t seen that today. I’ve seen families come together, anywhere from like young kids to people that are elderly. They have been dedicated.”

Two hours ahead of the polls closing, Port Huron City Clerk Cyndee Jonseck said in-precinct voter turnout was over 1,500. Absentees were reported just over 2,400. She said the city saw 166 prior to Tuesday for early voting.

Reasoning to turnout to vote varies for longtime residents

Updated 5:15 p.m. ET, Aug. 6, 2024

Multiple daytime voters around central Port Huron declined to discuss what brought them out for Tuesday’s election. For others, there wasn’t any one race or proposal that drew them to the polls.

Amid a trickle of midday turnout outside the city’s 6th and 7th precincts, Susan Brackenbury, 63, said she wasn’t familiar with all of the primary candidates, though she supported the county veterans affairs millage and the additional millage request for county parks and recreation.

Instead, she said she has a bigger focus on November’s city election, when Port Huron council and mayoral candidates will be on the ballot. Overall, she was hoping for some new blood in local office.

“Because nothing’s good,” Brackenbury said. “It’s nothing but fighting and arguing around here.”

Many of those turning out to vote Tuesday in the county seat were life-long residents who said they typically voted in every local election — regardless of what was on the ballot.

When asked how they voted, a few said they voted for candidates they knew personally.

“The Baileys and the Anters are longtime friends,” said resident Leslie Bailey-Leonard. A “true blue” voter, she said she voted for John Anter in the Democratic primary for District 64 state representative, as well as for incumbent St. Clair County Commissioner Lisa Beedon. “I have grown up with the Anters my whole life. They’re longtime business owners. John is like the third generation, probably, their family and what they’ve done here in the community. So, I’m really comfortable with voting that name. And Lisa Beedon. I like her. Also, I’m on some committees with the city, and so I work with her significant other, Mark (Watson).”

David Castillo said he voted for his nephew Mathew Castillo in the 64th District primary, adding, “I am a Republican. But this time, I voted Democrat just to support him.”

He said he supported all the millages on the ballot.

“I just hope the money does get to improve all those areas they want to improve, like drug enforcement, the roads, and the parks,” Castillo said. “All that stuff’s good, so hopefully, it will make a difference.”

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: ELECTION UPDATES: Unofficial primary results roll in