Final votes firm up Buehler win; 2 Bend councilors out

While Oregonians legalized marijuana, split on GMO labeling and re-elected Gov. John Kitzhaber, Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Greg Walden, Central Oregon voters sent Bend Republican knee surgeon Knute Buehler to the Legislature and dealt defeat to a pair of incumbents on the Bend City Council.

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In the hard-fought race for the open Oregon House District 54 seat in Bend, Republican Buehler defeated Democrat Craig Wilhelm, 59 percent to 41 percent in the final unofficial Deschutes County ballot returns released early Wednesday.

Buehler told NewsChannel 21’s Dan McCarthy he is “looking forward to doing good work for Bend and Central Oregon. He said top “serious challenges” include creating “good, quality jobs that don’t leave people behind” and a “high-quality education system.”

House Republican leader Mike McLane easily won his District 55 race, 73 percent to Democrat Richard Phay’s 22 percent.

Deschutes County Commissioner Tony DeBone, a Republican, fended off a strong challenge from Democrat challenger Jodie Barram to win a second term, 53 percent to 43 percent, while Libertarian Jack Stillwell had about 3.5 percent of the vote..

In the biggest High Desert election surprise of the night, two Bend city councilors lost to challengers in hard-fought races.

In the early-Wednesday final update, Councilor Mark Capell lost to challenger Nathan Boddie, 55 to 45 percent. And incumbent Scott Ramsay lost by 858 votes to challenger Barb Campbell, in races that involved some of the heaviest ad spending seen in races for the part-time positions.

In the four-person race for Barram’s city council seat, Casey Roats won with about 45 percent of the vote to 42 percent for Lisa Seales, nearly 8 percent for Ron Boozell and 5 percent for Richard Robertson.

In Redmond, where four candidates were seeking three city council seats, one incumbent, Ed Onimus, trailed the field with about 20 percent of the vote. Fellow incumbent Jay Patrick had the most votes, 28 percent, followed by newcomer Anne Graham with 26 percent and Councilor Tory Allman with 25 percent.

In La Pine, voters chpse among three candidates for two city council seats, and returned incumbents Stu Martinez and Karen Ward, who defeated challenger Don Greiner.

In Sisters, with five candidates for three seats, challenger Nancy Connolly had the lead with nearly 24 percent of the votes, followed by two incumbents, David Asson with 22 percent and Wendy Holzman with 21 percent; Bob Wright had about 18 percent and incumbent Brad Boyd last with 15 percent of the vote.

Sisters residents defeated a measure to allow medical marijuana dispensaries, with 57 percent no votes to 43 percent in favor, while a $14.5 million Sisters school bond measure also lost, with 56 percent no votes to 43 percent in favor.

Not far down the road, the Cloverdale Rural Fire District won easy approval of a $2.475 million bond measure for new fire engines and new or upgraded fire stations, 65 percent yes votes to 35 percent no. And in the south county, voters in the Newberry Estates Special Road District easily passed a five-year, $45,000 dust-abatement levy, 104 yes votes to 75 no.

In Crook County, Commissioner Seth Crawford was handily defeating challenger Walt Wagner, 62 to 37 percent, is being challenged by Walt Wagner. while voters overwhelmingly approved (83 to 17 percent) Measure 7-63, to continue the Bowman Museum’s four-year operating levy of about $100,000 a year.

In Jefferson County, Tom Brown was defeating Mae Huston in a county commissioner race by just one vote, 2,994 to 2,766. In Madras, four candidates were seeking one of three city council seats, incumbent Jim Leach in the lead with 30 percent of the vote, followed by Bill Montgomery with 25 percent of the vote and Richard Ladeby at 22 percent. In Culver, Charles Rushing was defeating Daryl Lonien for a Culver City Council seat, 99 votes to 67.

The Camp Sherman Road District’s local option levy was passing, 61 percent yes to 39 percent no.