FAYETTEVILLE — Butch Pond, the only incumbent Washington County justice of the peace in Tuesday’s primary election, defeated his opponent, Travis Lee.
Two Democrats and one Republican were set to emerge from contested races to earn their parties’ nomination to run for Washington County justice of the peace in the November general election.
In the other two contests, Boyce Davis defeated Rhonda Hulse in the Democratic primary for justice of the peace in District 13, and Sharon Green defeated Maria Hicks in District 7.
With all precincts reporting, Pond received 803 votes (57 percent) and Lee got 595 votes (43 percent).
“I feel good about it. Lee was a pretty tough campaigner and had a lot of signs and mailers,” Pond said. “I had to do plain old fashion hard work on my end. I need to do a lot of one-on-one with the voters as much as I can for November.”
Pond said he will start campaigning in a couple months after he finishes his production of hay at his farm.
Of the three county justice races, only one involved an incumbent, with Pond having served since 2002. The remaining two races involved candidates in two newly configured districts resulting from last year’s redrawn political lines to balance population among districts.
Voters in eastern portions of the county, including Elkins, chose between Pond, the Quorum Court’s senior member, and Lee, a first-time candidate and son of former Benton County Sheriff Andy Lee.
The district, formerly numbered 9, is now District 15. Washington County will have 15 rather than 13 districts in 2013 because of the county’s population growth in the last decade. District 15, although renumbered, remained mostly unchanged after the redistricting process.
The area covers mostly rural eastern Washington County, Elkins and the easternmost residents of Fayetteville.
The race was the only GOP primary for justices of the peace. The winner now turns his attention to November’s general election with opponent Jim House, a former Democratic state representative.
District 7
In the Democratic race for District 7, voters selected Green, a bookkeeper for the Springdale School District, over Hicks, a consultant with Symphony IRI Group, a company that provides research for retail and health care companies.
With early voting results, Green received 267 votes (65 percent) and HIcks got 146 votes (35 percent).
“We did what we could and whatever the result, I’m completely happy with the effort and happy to be part of the process,” Hicks said.
District 7 is one of two new, significantly redrawn districts carved out by the Election Commission because of the area’s population growth. The new district covers 13,223 residents living in Fayetteville’s most western areas, the Wheeler community and rural residents north of Prairie Grove.
Green focused her campaign on her knowledge of public funding through her job.
Hicks, a first-time candidate, said she was the county’s first Hispanic candidate for justice of the peace.
Although a first-time candidate, Hicks has been active in the Democratic Party.
The winner of Tuesday’s primary will face incumbent Justice of the Peace Rick Cochran, who lives in the new District 7. Cochran formerly represented District 10, which included Lincoln residents and a vast rural western portion of the county.
That district, now numbered 13, includes voters in Prairie Grove.
District 13
Democratic early voters in District 13 narrowly favored Davis, an attorney, over Hulse, a grants administrator for the city of Lincoln.
With early voting totals, Davis received 219 votes (50.46 percent) and Hulse got 215 votes (49.54 percent).
“I want to thank everyone that voted for me and I very much respect Boyce Davis, who I ran against,” Hulse said.
District 13 is one of the largest districts, covering a vast rural western area, Lincoln and Prairie Grove. Prairie Grove was added to the district by the Washington County Election Commission as part of last year’s redistricting.
Hulse has worked for public entities for about 18 years. Before working at the city, Hulse worked at Washington County and the Lincoln School District.
The winner now turns attention to November, when unopposed Republican candidate Ron Aman of Prairie Grove vies for the post.