Billy Gaines moves forward as the Ray County Republican Party’s choice for presiding commissioner.

Gaines will face Democrat Shirley (Bush) O’Dell in November.

The county primary elections, held Tuesday, drew 3,754 voters, 1,571 of whom voted for Gaines. Opponent Lonnie Kersey earned 808 votes.

O’Dell received 938 votes to earn her place as the Democratic Party’s candidate.

For the circuit clerk race, Republican Michelle Woods edged out Alice Faye Smith and Kymmie Higginbotham with 44.29% of the vote. Smith and Higginbotham received 31.3% and 24.41%, respectively.

Rich Templeton bested James Pelis for the Richmond Township Committeeman position with 547 votes (68.98%). Pelis received 232 votes and there were 14 write-ins.

In the unopposed races on the Republican ballot, Heather (Graff) Maulsby received 2,209 votes for county clerk, Rhonda Kinnison received 2,248 votes for recorder of deeds, Melissa Pulliam-Holloway received 2,278 votes for county treasurer, Camille Johnston garnered 2,188 votes for prosecuting attorney and Julie Chowning collected 2,323 votes as county collector.

On the Democratic ballot, Associate Circuit Judge Lori J. Baskins received 914 votes.

For the state representative race in District 7, Republican Peggy McGaugh received 455 votes. Democrat Joshua Vance received 127 votes. After redistricting was competed earlier this year, District 7 covers the northern section of Ray County, including Hardin.

The rest of Ray County sits in District 53. District 53 incumbent Terry Thompson, a Republican, received 1,780 Ray County votes.

OTHER ELECTION NEWS

The local results were among a set of primaries that included state and federal races. In keeping with other Missouri Republicans, Ray Countians picked Eric Schmitt to represent the GOP in November in the U.S. Senate race. Schmitt received 1,285 votes (47.63%) in Ray County and 298,852 (45.66%) statewide. He’ll face Democrat Trudy Busch Valentine, Libertarian Jonathan Dine and the Constitution Party’s Paul Venable.

Overall, 3,754 Ray Countians voted out of 14,757 registered voters, a little more than 25% of those registered, county election board information states.