Banks beats Harreld in supe race
Karl Banks is back.
Uncertified results show the former longtime Democrat supervisor defeating Republican Jim Harreld by a slim margin of 51 votes, 3,501 to 3,450.
Banks had held the District 4 seat for more than 30 years before losing to Republican David Bishop in 2015 by two votes.
Bishop lost the Republican primary to Harreld in August.
Both Banks and Harreld, who is of the Harreld Chevrolet family, were at the county courthouse Wednesday morning as county election officials were counting an unknown number of absentee and affidavit ballots. Those totals were not available as of press time.
"It feels good to win," Banks said. "And I have to start by thanking everyone who voted for me yesterday. It was an effort from the constituents who appreciate good governance who pushed me over the top, and I appreciate them."
Banks added that he had been very careful over the past 24 hours to be vigilant after his last election bid was "stolen."
"If that election wasn't stolen from me four years ago, we'd probably be further ahead as a county than we are now, because I know how to solve problems," he said. "(In 2015) I knew that some had done something underhanded, and I pointed it out to them before they ever certified that election. Today, I made sure I was there every step of the way because I felt if they could take it away that easily without repercussions in 2015, they could possibly do it again today."
Harreld declined to comment when contacted by the Journal Wednesday morning.
The District 4 Supervisor race was one of four contested local races in Madison County Tuesday.
In District 5, incumbent Supervisor Paul Griffin cruised to re-election, defeating Charles "Chip" Matthews by a better than 2-to-1 margin, 4,787 votes to 2,219.
Incumbent County Tax Collector Kay Pace, a Republican, defeated Democrat Robert Earl Winn, Jr. by a 24,551 to 13,403-vote margin.
The other county-level race decided Tuesday was for Justice Court Judge for District 2, where incumbent Democrat Martina B. Griffin, Paul Griffin's daughter, crushed Republican challenger Bill Featherston 5,728 votes to 1,290.
Madison County voters also decided — or helped decide — several state legislative races Tuesday:
• In the race for District 73 Representative, Republican Jill Ford handily defeated Democrat Gayle Walsh Massey with 74 percent of the vote.
• In the race for District 64 Representative, Democrat Shanda Yates edged incumbent Republican Bill Denny by a 51-49 margin.
• In the State House race in District 56, Republican Speaker of the House Philip Gunn defeated former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Vickie Slater by a margin of 64-36.
• In State Senate District 25, incumbent Republican Walter Michel defeated Democrat Earl Scales by capturing 72 percent of votes.
• In State Senate District 22, Democrat Joseph Thomas, Sr. defeated Republican Hayes Dent 52-48.