There was healthy participation in the primary election, which came to an end this past Tuesday, and decided a couple of local races on the Republican side.
Adam Gates earned the party’s nod for Yuma County 
Commissioner, District 1, receiving 72 percent of the 2,292 ballots cast, according to the unofficial results, compared to 28 percent for Jamie Unger, 1,654-638.
Gates could have competition in the November general election, as Dwain Weinrich has stated his intention to run unaffiliated, going the petition route to get on the ballot.
In the other local contested race, incumbent Todd Combs received 67 percent of the vote for Yuma County Sheriff, outdistancing challenger Curtis Witte, 1,591-788. That sets up Combs for another four-year term as he likely will run unopposed in the November election.
In the race for the new State House District 63, Yuma County’s Jessie Vance lost to current state Rep. Richard Holtorf, who received 1,546 votes to Vance’s 755.
Yuma County went for Greg Lopez over Heidi Ganahl in the Republican race for governor, for Ken Buck over Robert Lewis for the Fourth Congressional District, for Ron Hanks over Joe O’Dea for U.S. Senator, and county resident Mike O’Donnell in the three-way race for the party’s secretary of state candidate.
Statewide, Ganahl beat out Lopez, Buck easily beat Lewis, and O’Dea got the nod over Hanks. O’Donnell lost in his three-way race, with Pam Anderson getting the most votes,
There were not any challenged races on the Yuma County Democrat primary ballot, but there still were more 200 ballots cast.
A total of 2,666 ballots were cast overall in Yuma County, representing a 46.3 percent voter turnout. Statewide voter turnout was only 28.3 percent.
