ELECTION RESULTS FOR PLYMOUTH COUNTY
For Plymouth County offices, the four GOP candidates won their party’s nomination:
Supervisors
2 – GOP I Mike Van Otterloo (Le Mars) 1,200
5 – GOP Douglas Manley (Akron) 1,075
Auditor – GOP I Stacey Feldman (Le Mars) 1,192
Sheriff – GOP I Jeff Te Brink (Westfield) 1,219
In Plymouth County, the one federal race went to the challenger:
Congress, District 4 – GOP I Randy Feenstra (Hull) 589
Kevin Virgil (Sutherland) 796
DEM Ryan Melton (Nevada) 66
Across the 4th District, Feenstra defeated Virgil, and will face Melton in the general election.
Senate District 2 – GOP I Jeff Taylor (Sioux Center) 624 – Taylor totaled 6,347 votes across the district.
House District 3 – GOP I Tom Jeneary (Le Mars) 685 – 2,009 across the 3rd District
DEM Emma Bouza (Hawarden) 38 – 102 across the 3rd District
Jeneary and Bouza will face off in the general election in November.
House District 13 – GOP Travis Sitzmann (Le Mars) 442
Noah Wieseler (Sioux City) 145
Across the entire 13th District, Sitzmann 1538, Wieseler 910 votes.
Voter turnout in Plymouth County was 8.1%, and Woodbury 7.8%. Sioux – 18%; O’Brien 17%; Cherokee 23%
LE MARS CODE OF ETHICS
The Le Mars city council adopted a resolution approving a code of ethics policy. The city was one of three, including Sioux City and Sergeant Bluff, to receive a Destination Iowa Grant for construction of the PlyWood Trail. Grant requirements say each subrecipient must have a Code of Ethics, or Conflict of Interest policy in place before receiving grant funds. There were a couple of objections to parts of the code. One was that the code addresses the city council, but not the mayor, and it should include more city officials than just the mayor and council. The Le Mars council approved the code of ethics with amendments to address those two issues.
EMPLOYEE PAY INCREASES
The Le Mars city council approved additional funds for non-bargaining performance-based pay increases for fiscal 2025. In February of this year, the council approved 83-thousand dollars for this funding poll, with the understanding that administration could requests additional funds if needed. This request was for an additional 12-thousand dollars. City administrator Jason Vacura told the council that two water works employees recently increased their certification, which brings along a higher pay step. The council approved the increase in the funding pool.
LOCAL PRIMARY RACES
Contested primary elections in northwest Iowa brought plenty of upsets, as incumbents were defeated in several counties.
In O’Brien County, two of the three incumbent Supervisors were defeated. Incumbents Tim Overmeyer and John Stiemsma were defeated by challengers Jim Thomas and Barb Rohwer, respectively. Rohwer is the current O’Brien County Auditor. A third O’Brien County Supervisor, Incumbent Nancy Mc Dowell, won her primary over Shanelee Matus.
In Lyon County, State Trooper Brian Hilt defeated incumbent Stewart Vander Stoep for Sheriff. Hilts margin of victory was 123 votes out of 26-hundred cast.
In Osceola County, challenger Jeff Loring defeated incumbent Supervisor Ed Jones. Two other incumbent Supervisors won their primaries.
In Sioux County, incumbents won their primary elections. In Supervisor District 1, incumbent John Degen won over two challengers, Mark Pottebaum and Stanley Hoekstra. Sioux County Auditor Joe Van Tol won a primary election over his predecessor, Ryan Doktor. Van Tol was appointed to the post a year ago, when Doktor stepped down to take a job in the private sector.
FEENSTRA DEFEATS VIRGIL IN U.S. HOUSE RACE
Incumbent 4th District Congressman Randy Feenstra defeated challenger Kevin Virgil for the Republican nomination for the U.S. House seat.
Feenstra won 60% of the vote, and Virgil 40%, across the 4th District. He won in 27 of the district’s 36 counties. Virgil won the vote in 9 counties, including Plymouth, Osceola, O’Brien, Buena Vista, Sac, and Monona.
Feenstra is seeking a 3rd term in Congress. He faces the same opponent in the general election that he faced two years ago, Ryan Melton of Nevada. Melton won the Democratic primary without opposition.
RISEFEST
RISEfest, the annual two-day Christian music festival in Sheldon, Iowa takes place this Friday and Saturday. RiseFest features the nation’s top Christian artists, seminars, activities for kids of all ages, ministry outreach, and more.
Rob Roozeboom tells KLEM that this year’s speakers includes former professional baseball player Darryl Strawberry.
Strawberry will speak on the mainstage at 8 pm Friday.
The Risefest 2024 weekend music lineup includes Skillet, Matthew West, We Are Messengers, and Phil Wickham.
IOWANS TO PAY $1.85 BILLION LESS IN INCOME TAXES OVER NEXT DECADE
An analysis from a think tank called the Common Sense Institute concludes the latest round of state income tax cuts may create up to 68-hundred new jobs in Iowa next year. Ben Murrey, the group’s director of research, says when you pull one policy lever, there are impacts in other areas of the economy. He says the reduction in income taxes will boost consumer spending and business owners who’re paying less in personal income taxes may choose to hire more employees. Murrey’s report concludes Iowans will pay one-point-85 billion dollars less in taxes over the next decade. Next year, an Iowa household with an annual income of 75-thousand dollars will get a 410 dollar state income tax cut.
