Clear Lake voters propel Republicans

by Marianne Gasaway

Clear Lake voters largely supported Republican candidates in Tuesday’s General Election.  In addition to contributing to President Donald Trump’s victory in the state, local voters favored G.O.P. candidates in U.S. House and Senate races, as well as Iowa House District 54.

Unofficial results showed President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence earned 12,442 (52.28 percent) votes in Cerro Gordo County, compared to 10,941 (45.97 percent) for the Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris ticket.  In each of Clear Lake’s three voting wards, Trump-Pence received more than 57 percent of the votes.  The greatest margin was in Ward 1, where the incumbent had 935 votes (59.21 percent) and Biden-Harris had 623 votes (39.46 percent).

President Trump received just over 53 percent of the votes statewide, giving him Iowa’s six electoral votes.  However, Trump appears to have lost the election.  Americans are still waiting for official results as a handful of key states work through their backlogs.

In the race for U.S. Senate, Republican incumbent Joni Ernst held off a

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strong challenge from Democratic newcomer Theresa Greenfield.

Local voters comfortably favored Ernst.  The total from Clear Lake’s three voting wards was 2,605 to 1,975.  The winner earned 11,339 (48.1 percent) of votes cast in Cerro Gordo County; Greenfield had earned 11,534 votes (49.02 percent) in the county.  Statewide, Ernst held onto her Senate seat with 863,554  votes (52 percent), compared to 753,612 (45 percent) for Greenfield.

Republican Randy Feenstra was the winner in the race for U.S. House of Representative District 4.  Feenstra finished with 62 percent of the vote in the state (236,967) to 144,414 for Democrat J.D. Scholton.  Feenstra did not enjoy the same degree of success in the county, winning by 51.83 (11,736) to 48.03 percent (10,876).  Clear Lake’s three voting wards gave Feenstra 2,685 votes, while Scholton had 1,813.

Republican Shannon Latham was a solid winner in the race for Iowa House District 54, the seat previously held by Linda Upmeyer (Clear Lake). Latham finished with 65 percent of the vote (10,217).  Democratic challenger  Karen Koenig received 3,602 votes (22.91 percent) and Independent Bennett Smith garnered 1,900 votes (12.09 percent).  Smith, a Clear Lake City Councilman, had steady support within the community.  He received 1,182 votes from Clear Lake’s three voting wards and finished second to Latham in the totals from Cerro Gordo County.  Latham carried the county with 3,995 (57.07 percent).  Smith had 1,580 votes (22.57 percent) and Koenig received 1,416 (20.23 percent).

Canvas

scheduled

The Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors was scheduled to canvas the vote at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10.

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