Election results – Updated

Allen County voters rejected a half-cent sales tax to fund EMS services and picked John Brocker to serve on the county commission. LaHarpe also rejected a sales tax question. Moran voters picked a city council member.

November 5, 2024 - 8:00 PM

Allen County voters narrowly rejected a half-cent sales tax to fund EMS services, which would have shifted the burden from property taxes. The question brought 52% of voters opposed, with a count of 2,870 to 2,613.

Republican John Brocker will join Allen County’s commission, defeating Independent Jon Wells. Voters picked Brocker with a vote of 926 or 56% compared to 717 votes for Wells.

In LaHarpe, voters soundly defeated a 1.5% sales tax question to fund street repairs, with 70% opposed on a vote of 118 to 50.

And in Moran, Warren Johnson and Kris Smith will keep their council seats. A third seat will be filled by a write-in candidate, which will be announced when the county commission canvasses the vote.

Voter turnout was nearly 63%, with 5,589 ballots cast out of 8,838 registered voters.

The rest of the races facing local voters were uncontested, while local voters picked Republicans in state and federal races.

The uncontested local races will bring a couple of changes to county offices, though. Republican Anthony Maness will be the new sheriff, after defeating incumbent Bryan Murphy in the August primary.

Republican Brandon Cameron will be the new county attorney, running unopposed after his boss, Jerry Hathaway, chose not to run.

In the state and federal races, local voters threw their support behind Republican Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, with 72% of the vote compared to 26% for Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Gov. Tim Walz.

Allen County voters in Kansas’ 2^nd Congressional District picked Republican Derek Schmidt by 71% over Democrat Nancy Boyda. According to statewide results, Schmidt appears to have won the seat; Boyda conceded.

In the state contests, Republican Caryn Tyson had 78% of the local vote over Libertarian challenger Cullene Lang.

House Representative Fred Gardner, a Republican, ran unopposed. He received 94% of the county vote.

That’s all for tonight. We’ll have full results for state and federal races, and more details in Thursday’s paper.