Incomplete results: Read wins House seat

With incomplete counts in from local counties, it appears Mound City Republican Marty Read has defeated former state Rep. Shirley Palmer for the District 4 House seat.

Palmer, D-Fort Scott, served two terms in the Kansas Legislature and was defeated in 2010 by Caryn Tyson, R-Parker. Results were incomplete Tuesday because ballots had to be hand counted in Linn County. The district covers Bourbon, Linn and Anderson counties.

In Bourbon County, 3,103 (55 percent) votes were cast for Read and 2,493 (44 percent) for Palmer.

Contacted late Tuesday night, Palmer said she had not heard anything from Anderson County and Linn County's voting machines broke down. "I am assuming I have lost, but I have not seen any final figures. I'm disappointed with the results from Bourbon County, but the people have spoken and life goes on. I'll just be doing other things," she said, adding she does not plan to run for office again.

Read was reluctant to comment on the results until the totals were in, but he felt good about Bourbon and Anderson counties.

Tyson was displaced by redistricting this year, prompting her to run for the senate seat. Her competition was Denise Cassells, D-Mound City, and Tyson was the victor with 10,183 ballots districtwide (65 percent). In Bourbon County, Tyson got 1,400 votes.

Cassells netted 5,487 votes, or 35 percent, districtwide. In Bourbon County, she received 637 votes.

"We're excited about the results and looking forward the possibility of working in the state Senate. Hopefully, I can take some of the processes learned in the House -- working with others and getting results -- to the Senate," Tyson said.

Having to run for the Senate instead of her District 4 House seat, "... was definitely not in the plans, but we made adjustments and we had a great team of people working with us and just great support throughout the district."

Cassells was disappointed, but she felt she would lose if she didn't try to go for the Senate seat. She added she was more upset about fellow Democrats who lost their races than her own.

Cassells said she learned a lot from this election and not all of it was great, but she and Tyson ran clean races and she's received a lot of support.

She said she doesn't plan to run again. "From what I've seen, it was a pretty overwhelming win for Republicans statewide," Cassells said. In reviewing figures, she said it looks like the state has lost some "good Democrats" in the House and possibly "one of our Senators, so I don't know how this is going to come out."

Incumbent District 2 House Rep. Bob Grant of Frontenac beat out challenger Jeff Locke, R-Arma, for the spot. This was Locke's third attempt to win the job. Also on the ballot was Libertarian Lawrence Monaghan, who ran in 2010 as well.

"It was nice that the people saw fit to rehire me and I damn sure appreciate it," Grant said.

Locke said he plans to try again because he gets a little closer every time. "I won Bourbon, Allen and Neosho (counties) from what I understand, but I lost Crawford and Crawford is big enough that if you lose it significantly it doesn't matter how well you do in the other three," Locke said.

He added his pro-life position was vilified by the opposition as extreme.

Jake LaTurner, Republican of Pittsburg, beat Democrat Gene Garman, also of Pittsburg, for the Kansas District 13 Senate seat, which was held by Bob Marshall of Fort Scott. Districtwide, LaTurner garnered 16,170 votes, or 61 percent, compared to Garman's 10,464 or 39 percent, according to the Kansas Secretary of State's website.