Candidates decided in Monroe County primary elections

Both congressional and county candidates were elected Tuesday after the primary election was executed for Monroe County.

Voters were given the opportunity for both positions to choose the candidate who best represented their political party.

Incumbent Todd Young won the Republican primary for 9th District Indiana in a landslide versus candidates Kathy Lowe-Heil and Mark Jones with 79 percent of the vote.

Young, who has held the seat for the previous two terms, will face Democratic primary winner Bill Bailey in the general election in November.

“I’m incredibly humbled by the overwhelming show of support we received from our fellow Hoosiers today,” Young said in a press release.

“I’ve served in this office under the assumption that good policy equates to good politics, and that principle has never been more evident.”

Bailey could not be reached for an interview.

Other notable winners included Democratic affiliated candidates Linda Robbins for county clerk and Brad Swain for county sheriff.

About 30 races went uncontested. These positions either had one candidate running unopposed or only had candidates from a single party. Some of the positions had no candidates for which to vote.

Local government requires a lot of commitment with little reward, said IU political science professor Marjorie Hershey.

It’s easier for people to complain to local representatives, and the representatives don’t receive high salaries, she said.

She said you have to really want to be a local representative to make it worthwhile.
Hershey expects this trend to continue and observes that it occurs at the state level as well. 

“Only about 60 percent of the races have two candidates in the general election,” Hershey said. “In the other 40 percent there is one major party candidate running unopposed.” 

As of Thursday, official results had not been released by the Monroe County Government’s office, but they are expected to be released by Sunday.