Gasconade County leans heavility to Romney-Ryan; Schatz is winner in county

By staff writer

Gasconade County voters turned out slightly less Tuesday than they did four years ago for the presidential election, but still kept with tradition by casting the majority of ballots for Republicans.
The Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan Republican ticket drew over 68 percent of the vote, while on the Democrats side, President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden had 29.3 percent. The Romney-Ryan ticket did better than Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin did against Obama and Biden in the 2008 Presidential election.
No county officials running in Tuesday’s election had opposition. The candidates were Larry Miskel, northern district commissioner; Jerry Lairmore, southern district commissioner; Randy Esphorst, sheriff; Joseph Mundwiller, assessor; Fay Owsley, public administrator; Benjamin Grosse, coroner; and Paul Dopuch, surveyor. All are Republicans with the exception of Mundwiller. Votes received: Miskel (2,883), Lairmore (3,151), Esphorst (6,126), Mundwiller (5,845), Owsley (5,990), Grosse (6,185), Dopuch (5,930).
County voters supported the Republican candidate, Dave Schatz of Sullivan, in the race for the newly-formed 61st District, which comprises parts of Gasconade, Franklin and Crawford counties. Schatz, who is serving his first term in the Missouri House of Representatives, received 2,067 votes (68.76 percent) in Gasconade County in Tuesday’s election. Michael Sage, a Democrat from Bay, pulled in 939 votes, or 31.24 percent of the vote.
District 61 is the result of the state’s redistricting following the 2010 Census, and combines three former legislative districts–the 109th, 112th and Rep. Schatz’ current district, the 111th.
Hermann voters leaned heavily to Schatz. He had 338 votes in Ward 2 to Sage’s 178; 278 in Ward 1 to Sage’s 172; and in the Little Berger precinct (rural Hermann), he received 469 votes to Sage’s 142.
Romney and Ryan had large numbers in both Hermann and Owensville. The Republican candidates out-polled Obama-Biden in Hermann Ward 2, 332-206, and in Ward 1, they had a 280-176 margin over the President and Vice-President.
The margin for Romney and Ryan was even wider in rural Hermann (Little Berger ward), where they had a 481-153 edge over the President and his running mate.
Rural Canaan, which consists of rural Owensville, the Romney-Ryan ticket had a 709-243 edge over Obama and Biden.
Ward 1 in Owensville favored the Romney-Ryan ticket 372-172, and in Owensville Ward 2 the Republicans had a 277-131 advantage.
Voter turnout on Tuesday in Gasconade County was 66.69 percent, with 7,206 out of 10,805 registered voters casting ballots.
In the November 2008 election, nearly 75 percent of Gasconade County voters went to the polls. In that election was Proposition A, a question that asked if voters wanted to move the county seat from Hermann to Owensville. It was voted down 4,301 to 3,377.
In the 2008 Presidential election, county voters supported Republicans John McCain-Sarah Palin with 61.3 percent of the vote, to 37.3 percent for Obama-Biden.
In other races Tuesday, county voters cast 3,603 votes (51.18%) for Republican Todd Akin while Senator Claire McCaskill received 2,927 (41,58%) in the U.S. Senate race.
Governor: Dave Spence (R) 3,775, Jay Nixon (D) 3,162)
Lt. Governor: Peter Kinder (R) 4,546, Susan Montee (D) 2,119.
Secretary of State: Shane Schoeller (R) 4,249, Jason Kander (D) 2,445.
State Treasurer: Cole McNary (R) 3,933, Clint Zweifel (D) 2,715.
Attorney General: Ed Martin (R) Chris Koester (D) 3,125.
U.S. Rep. 3rd District: Blaine Luetkemeyer (R) 5,272, Eric Mayer (D) 1,568.
Missouri State Rep. 62nd District: Tom Hurst (R) 2,701, Greg Stratman (D) 1,173.
Circuit Judge-Circuit 20: Gael D. Wood (5,975).
Constitution Amendment 3 (selection of judges): Yes 1,463, No 4,978.
Proposition A (St. Louis city police force): Yes 3,876, No 2,492.
Proposition B (cigarette tax): Yes 2,521, No 4,442.
Proposition E (health care): Yes 4,316, No 2,300.

Posted on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 at 11:40 pm