Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Second-place finish ends Steve King's 9-term run in Congress
With plexiglass in between, a voter signs in at the Primghar Community Building during Tuesday's primary election.
The number of polling stations in O'Brien County were reduced to two – one in Primghar and one in Sheldon – due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Election worker Sarah Rohwer checks a voter's ID Tuesday afternoon at the Primghar Community Building.
Election worker Abby Wallin wipes down a table at the Primghar Community Building on Tuesday. She kept busy disinfecting surfaces throughout the day to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Election workers Sarah Rohwer and Shara Wallin assist a voter at the Primghar Community Center on Tuesday, June 2.
Face masks and sanitizer were available at the sign-in desk on election day. Extra precautions were taken due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tuesday's primary election made national headlines following the defeat of a longtime northwest Iowa congressman.
Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull who represents District 2 in the Iowa State Senate, soundly defeated Rep. Steve King with 46 percent of the vote in the GOP primary. Feenstra's victory now pits him against Democrat J.D. Scholten in the November general election.
"I am truly humbled by the outpouring of support over the past 17 months that made tonight possible and I thank Congressman King for his decades of public service," Feenstra said in a statement.
King tallied 36 percent of the vote Tuesday, while former Woodbury County Supervisor Jeremy Taylor pulled 8 percent. Ex-Irwin mayor Bret Richards garnered 7 percent and Arnolds Park businessman Steve Reeder won 3 percent.
King, who has represented northwest Iowa in Congress since 2003, posted a video to his campaign's Facebook page late Tuesday night saying he conceded the race to Feenstra.
"I pointed out that there are some powerful elements in the swamp and he's going to have an awfully hard time pushing back against them," King said.
Other federal-level races Tuesday saw Theresa Greenfield easily win the five-way race for the Democratic Party's nomination for U.S. Senate. Greenfield will now face incumbent Sen. Joni Ernst, who did not have a Republican primary opponent.
Locally, Cherokee County Supervisor Dennis Bush won the Republican Party's nomination in Iowa House District 3, which encompasses O'Brien and Cherokee counties and parts of Sioux and Plymouth counties.
"It is truly humbling," Bush said in statement. "I look forward to the general election in November and beginning the work of representing the residents of our District in the Iowa House."
Bush, of rural Cherokee County, pulled 42 percent of the vote to defeat Lynn Evans and Mark McHugh. Current District 3 Rep. Dan Huseman, R-Aurelia, is retiring at the end of the year.
Elsewhere, O'Brien County Chief Deputy Bruce Devereaux breezed to victory over Brenda Collier in the O'Brien County Sheriff's race. Devereaux earned nearly 90 percent of the vote en route to winning the Republican Party's nomination.
"I would like to thank all the O'Brien County citizens who voted for me, but more importantly, I would like to thank my family and friends for their support of my career and many years of missing special occasions when I was working," Devereaux said in statement. "I'm very excited to lead the O'Brien County Sheriff's Office into the next decade!"
