There were many races to follow Tuesday night at the Republican Election Watch Party, and by 8 p.m. many were too close to call. But one local race showed a clear favorite, with Rep. John Edmonds being re-elected to the 112th district by a landslide. After advanced ballots were tallied, Edmonds had almost 69 percent of the votes, leading Democrat challenger Stephen Muehleisen 955 to 435. Edmonds went on to win the election with more than 75 percent — receiving 4,480 votes to Muehleisen’s 1,459 in the election night final tally. Both men are from Great Bend.
Watching other races of interest Tuesday night, Edmonds said, “The governor’s race is too close to call. I think Sen. Roberts will be OK.”
Several national races were of interest. “This is going to be an extremely important election,” Edmonds said.
Technically, Edmonds was re-elected to his second term in the House, since he took four years off after being diagnosed with cancer. But he served six two-year terms before that hiatus. Now in good health, Edmonds said he chose to run again because: “It was a job I thought I’d done tolerably well.”
Edmonds said his work as a Certified Public Accountant provides a valuable skill set that few politicians have. Watching the bottom line has always been one of his priorities.
“The issue you see every session is more money that’s trying to get spent,” he said. “In the long run, you can only spend what you’ve got.”
Edmonds currently services on the House pensions committee, health and human services committee, and the taxation committee.
“If I can keep the same committees, I’ll be a happy camper,” he said. “I’ll be very curious to see what the Speaker does with his committees.”
Muehleisen, who also ran an unsuccessful campaign against Edmonds in 2012, said he chose to run again because he wanted to support Paul Davis, who he hoped would be elected governor.
“Paul Davis is going to need all the help he can get to try to fix anything,” he said. “The Brownback Experiment hasn’t worked. My motivation is to help out the new governor.”
Barton County’s election night totals were in around 10 p.m., but the question of who would be governor was still in the air.