Sean C. Morgan
Bruce Hobbs and Dave Trask will join the City Council and Jim Gourley and Marybeth Angulo will continue to serve after garnering the most votes in last week’s election.
Roger Nyquist retained his seat on the Linn County Board of Commissioners. A Republican incumbent, Nyquist defeated Democrat Mark Spence 29,743 to 16,884 for Position Two on the commission.
Republican Will Tucker received 30,161 votes, running unopposed, for county commissioner position three. Some 19,956 did not vote in the race.
For City Council, Trask received the most votes, 1,465. Gourley received 1,447, and Angulo received 1,233. Hobbs received 774 votes. The top three receive four-year terms, while the fourth-place candidate receives a two-year term.
Also running were Gerritt Schaffer, who finished with 750; incumbent Ron Rodgers, 730; Royce Cantrell, 661; and Anay Hausner, 632.
Andrew Allen ran a write-in campaign.
The council race had a total of 229 write-ins. Those results won’t be broken down since there are not enough total votes to win a seat on the council, said Derrick Sterling, Linn County supervisor of elections.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was disappointed,” Rodgers said of not being re-elected, but it is a mixed blessing with the busy schedule he keeps.
He has served since 2010 when he was appointed to fill Jim Bean’s seat after he died.
Rodgers said he felt like he was just getting comfortable with the council, and he felt like he is pretty good at looking at both sides of an issue and finding a balanced solution.
“At the same time, I think the people who were elected will do a good job,” Rodgers said.
“I was considering not running simply because with my job I’m extremely busy,” Rodgers said. He was asked to run again by several people. While his job has taken him out of state frequently, that will likely change next year, keeping him closer to home, so he decided to go ahead and run.
He definitely plans to run for the council again, he said.
“I’m excited about getting to go back and work on some of the things we’re doing right now,” Gourley said. “I’m looking forward to another four years. I think there’s a lot of things in Sweet Home I’d like to work on and see be finished. If we can all work together we can do some really great things in Sweet Home.”
He looks forward to opportunities to work with groups like the Sweet Home Active Revitalization Effort, he said, and there are opportunities to work with the county on the former Willamette Industries, Weyerhaeuser and Knife River property, part of which is proposed as a county park and permanent site for the Oregon Jamboree.
“I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to serve the citizens of Linn County for another four years,” Nyquist said. “I find the work very meaningful. I’m very passionate about it.”
He said he was grateful to all of the volunteers who stepped up for his campaign the last three days of the election.
Their support was amazing, he said.
Incumbent Republican Fred Girod defeated Democrat Steve Frank 32,370 to 22,892 for Senate District Nine. Linn County voted 11,922 to 6,544 for Girod.
Incumbent Republican Sherrie Sprenger defeated Democrat Richard Harrisay 17,726 to 7,680 for House District 17. Linn County voted 12,960 to 5,640 for Sprenger.
Incumbent Democrat Phil Barnhart won 14,505 to 11,786 for Republican Kelly Lovelace for House District 11, which includes territory southwest of the Sweet Home city limits along Highway 228. Linn County voted 4,231 to 2,139 for Lovelace.
In elections for national offices, Republicans won in Linn County, including Mitt Romney 28,482 votes to 19,893 for President Barack Obama, who won overall. Art Robinson had 24,981 votes to Peter DeFazio’s 23,253. DeFazio, the incumbent, won overall.
For state offices, Linn County voted 24,982 for Republican Knute Buehler over Democrat Kate Brown, 20,121, for secretary of state. Brown retained her seat. Republican Tom Cox had 22,861 votes against Democrat Ted Wheeler, 20,900, for state treasurer. Wheeler retained his seat.
For attorney general, James L. Buchal received 23,460 votes, while incumbent Democrat Ellen Rosenblum received 20,143. Rosenblum won statewide. Bruce Starr received 21,411 votes against incumbent and winner Brad Avakian, 14,545, for commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries.