ShawneeDispatch.com

When the preliminary numbers for advance votes came out, Steve Howe, Republican candidate for Johnson County District Attorney, was certainly pleased.

After all, the Shawnee resident had garnered twice as many advance votes as fellow Shawnee resident and current District Attorney Phill Kline.

"Well, I hope that continues on; we're hoping that this positive information we've put out in our campaign is a winning formula," he said. ": The only way to stop negative campaigning is to show that it's not a winning formula."

Howe captured nearly 65 percent of advance votes with 10,604 to Kline's 5,769. He lost a bit of that lead in the final results, but Howe still beat Kline handily, garnering 33,260 ballots to Kline's 22,188.

Howe said as he moves forward in his campaign, he would continue his message of putting public safety first, restoring professionalism, taking the politics out of the district attorney's office and giving it a fresh start with new leadership. He will face Democrat Rick Guinn in November.

In an election where 30 percent of total votes were cast in advance, preliminary results were a good indicator of how the night would turn out for many. Total voter turnout in Johnson County was only 22.52 percent, however.

The countywide sales tax for public safety received similar results to Howe's in advance ballots, with 62 percent of the votes in favor of the tax. The measure was still on top when final results were in: 53.3 percent of the votes for the tax, 46.7 percent of the votes against it.

Johnson County Sheriff Frank Denning will continue in his post after beating challenger Kevin Smith by more than 5,000 votes with a final count of 28,320. No Democratic candidate filed to run in the race, so Denning will not have an opponent in November.

In the 3rd District Congressional race, all indications were that Nick Jordan of Shawnee would move on to face incumbent Dennis Moore, D-Lenexa, in November, with 36,195 votes in Johnson County to the 11,037 for Paul Showen, also a Shawnee resident. Final results for the whole district were not available at press time.

Two Shawnee candidates also were up for the Republican nomination to the District 2 seat on the Kansas State Board of Education. Mary Ca Ralstin came out the victor in Johnson County with 14,858 votes to Brandon Kenig's 12,852. Results for the whole district were not known at press time; the winner will face Democrat Sue Storm in November.

Voters will decide between Republican Mary Pilcher Cook of Shawnee and Democrat Pete Roman of Lenexa for the 10th District Kansas Senate seat in the night's closest races.

Cook held a slight lead over Sue Gamble, a state school board member from Shawnee, in advance votes, 52 percent to 48 percent. The lead held, and Cook's final votes made up 57 percent of the total, 4,889 to Gamble's 3,757.

Similarly, Roman trailed opponent Michael Bolton of Shawnee, 47.6 percent to 52.4 percent, in advance votes. But in this race, when final tallies were in, Roman had very narrowly edged Bolton by just 76 votes, 1,499 to 1,423.

Republicans also selected Augie Bogina, a Shawnee Planning Commissioner, to move on to face Democrat Milack Talia of Merriam for the 23rd District seat in the Kansas House of Representatives. Bogina's votes totaled 862, 58 percent, over the 620 votes for opponent John Crabtree, a Merriam City Council member.