Republicans regain control of Saline board; Top vote getter, McKinnies, says no big deal
Saline County Republicans regained the majority vote on the county board following Tuesday night's record-setting general election that featured nearly 70 percent turnout.
There are now eight Republicans and five Democrats. Previously, there were seven Democrats and six Republicans.
Leading Republican vote-getter, Mike McKinnies switched party affiliations from Democrat to Republican and garnered 5,837 votes. The next three vote-getters were also Republicans - Roger Craig, Chris Penrod and Kevin Dowdy.
Veteran politician, David Phelps, topped the Democrats with 5,053 votes. Two other Democrats were also voted onto the board in Danny Gibbs and Rick Lane.
This group of seven joins incumbents Carey Harbison (R), Joe Jackson (R), Karla Carrigan (R), Stephen Karns (R), Brandon Henshaw (D) and Jay Williams (D).
What does all this mean?
Not all that much, according to McKinnies.
"This might be a big deal on the state or national level, but not here. We're working folks," he said. "We leave our party affiliation at the door. Whether you're a Republican or Democrat really doesn't matter. We all have the same common goal and that is to provide services to the people of Saline County to the best of our ability at a time when many people have been laid off from their jobs and revenues are down."
McKinnies said area coal mine layoffs have a substantial impact on the economy in the county.
"And it's not just the miners who are affected," he said. "It's the truck drivers, the repairmen, fuel operators. It's a lot of different people."
Democrat Mike Henshaw narrowly defeated Republican challenger, Molly Wilson Dearing, Tuesday in the race for Saline County State's Attorney.
Henshaw accounted for 5,921 votes compared to Dearing's 5,107 votes.
"This means that the voters of this county are tuned in to how we prosecute in this county to protect our citizens," he said. "We are fair with our prosecutions and I think this is validation of that."