By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
Elections might not be the first thing on people’s minds as they deal with the effects of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, but they are coming with elections scheduled for August and November for local, county, state and federal offices and proposals this year.
While April 21 was the official deadline for many partisan and non-partisan offices, that deadline was extended by federal court order to May 8. That ruling applied for selected federal and state offices where paying a filing fee was not an option and signatures had to be gathered on nominating petitions.
U.S. Rep. Fred Upton will face a primary challenger in
August as St. Joseph resident Elena Oelke has filed to run as a Republican. On the Democrat side, Kalamazoo residents Jon Hoadley and Jen Richardson are vying to see who will be on the November ballot.
Two of three area state representative seats will have at least one primary race. Only the 78th district race won’t have a primary with just one Republican and one Democrat meeting the April 21 deadline.
Incumbent Brad Paquette, R-Niles, has served one two-
year term and is seeking re-election. He is being challenged by Democrat and Niles City Councilman Dan VandenHeede. Both men are teachers by training. VandenHeede is giving up his Niles council seat to run for the state house.
In the 79th district which covers the northern half of Berrien County, incumbent Pauline Wendzel, R-Coloma, is being challenged by Bridgman resident Jacquie Gnodtke Blackwell in the Republican primary in August. The winner of that race will face Democrat Chockwe Pitchford of Benton Harbor in November.
The 59th district has a four-way race in the August Republican primary with incumbent Aaron Miller being term limited from running for re-election. That district covers half of Cass County and all of St. Joseph County. Those running are Steve Carra, Jack Coleman, Daniel Hinkle and Larry Walton. The winner will face Democrat Allen Balog.
In Berrien County, only a handful of current county office holders are facing competition either in the August primary or November general election. Those seeking re-election to local offices are also for the main part not challenged in many jurisdictions.
Of seven countywide positions, three are being contested. Those with uncontested races barring write-in candidates are Steve Pierangeli running for county prosecutor and incumbents Paul Bailey for sheriff, Christopher Quattrin for drain commissioner and John Kamer for surveyor.
Pierangeli was the only person to file to replace County Prosecutor Michael Sepic who announced his retirement earlier this year. Bailey is seeking his sixth term as the sheriff. Quattrin and Kamer are also seeking re-election to the drain commissioner and surveyor posts.
In contested races, County Clerk Sharon Tyler, R-Niles,
will face Democrat Gwenetta Swanigan of St. Joseph in November. Tyler is seeking her third term as the county clerk after having served two terms as the 78th district state representative as well as a number of other offices.
The other two contested races will be decided in the August Republican primary. Adrian Troy Rolling of Benton Harbor faces Shelly Weich of Baroda for county treasurer while Lora Freehling of Stevensville faces Brandon Vance of Buchanan for register of deeds.
Weich was appointed county treasurer last month after longtime treasurer Bret Witkowski resigned to take a position in the private sector. Freehling was appointed register of deeds in 2018 after the unexpected death of Lori Jarvis.
In judicial races, four Berrien County judges and one Cass County judge are running without opposition. Berrien County Circuit Court judges running for re-election are Donna Howard and Jennifer Smith. Berrien County District Court judges running for new terms are Arthur Cotter and Gordon Hosbein. In Cass County, Stacey Rentfrow is running for re-election as a district judge.
In addition to the offices that required people to file to run by April 21, other offices such as villages and school boards have a later filing deadline. The deadline to run for seats on village councils, local school boards and community college boards in July 21. That is also the deadline to run for other local offices such as the Buchanan City Commission.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.