Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Not one Republican lost in Tuesday’s election races in Kosciusko County.
Slightly more people turned out to vote in Kosciusko County in Tuesday’s general election than they did four years ago, and GOP Central Committee Chair Mike Ragan said that was a benefit to his party.
“It looks pretty good. I’m pleased,” he said at the GOP headquarters at around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. “We were hoping for a big turnout. We had a 38.27% turnout, which is really good. In the spring we were under 13%, so we’re very delighted in the increase in turnout.”
Ragan said he went to 17 of the 21 vote polling locations in the county on Tuesday and there were long lines at every one of them.
Kosciusko County Clerk’s Office Chief Deputy Ann Torpy said on Election Day in 2022, they had 18,867 people vote. Though there were only 12,728 voters who had turned out Tuesday for Election Day by a count at about 6 p.m., the final count was 20,758, or 38.27%, before the night was over.
If a person was in line when the polls closed at 6 p.m. Tuesday, they could still vote and the last person to vote at the North Webster Community Center cast their ballot at around 7:30 p.m., it was reported.
Speaking for herself, Torpy said the first page of the ballot was a public question people may have spent time on before making a decision. “It might be what’s holding people up,” she said.
“It’s just taking longer per voter in the booth,” County Clerk Melissa Boggs said.
Asked what he thought brought out more voters in the 2026 midterm general election compared to 2022’s, Ragan replied, “Of course, we didn’t have a lot of local races, but I think a lot of people came out because of the Second District race with Rudy Yakym and the Third District race with Marlin Stutzman, and, of course, the secretary of state race with Max Engling. I think Max did well in Kosciusko. His message resonated well up here, as did Rudy’s and Marlin’s.”
In Kosciusko County, Engling received 12,650 votes, with Democrat Beau Bayh receiving 6,610; Libertarian Lauri A. Shillings receiving 460; and Lincoln Party candidate Greg Ballard receiving 640.
Ragan said, before the final results came in, Engling needs to win his race. “For the sake of the citizens of Indiana, Max Engling needs to win this race, as well as our other state party ticket, but Max is imperative,” he said.
Ragan said it looked like State Comptroller Elise Nieshalla (13,399 votes in Kosciusko) was going to be alright in her race against Democrat Jessica Bailey (6,037) and Libertarian John Schnick (633), and State Treasurer Daniel Elliott (14,066 votes) should be OK in his race against Democrat Coumba Kebe (5,849).
In the Second District U.S. Representative race, Yakym received 10,225 votes in Kosciusko County; Democrat Jamee Decio, 4,530 votes; and William Eric Henry, 504.
In the Third District race, Stutzman received 3,286 votes in Kosciusko County, with Democrat Kelly Thompson receiving 1,641 votes.
One takeaway Ragan got from the elections this year, he stated, was that, “It seemed like the candidates invigorated the race. All the races. They’re the ones that fought hard and the voters heard their message and responded. I’m delighted at the turnout. I was thinking, when I would see these long lines at the polls, that it was probably a really good thing for us, and the way it turned out, Kosciusko County came shining through.”
Voting straight party, there were 7,445 Republicans; 1,511 Democrats; and nine Libertarians.
In local contested county, town and township races, Republicans won by big percentages.
The two at-large Syracuse Town Council seats will be filled by Greg Abbs, who received 365 votes, and Matthew Goodnight, who won 354 votes. Democrat Yesenia “Jessie” Vetor took in 208 votes. Abbs and Goodnight will replace Larry Siegel and Paul Stoelting, both of whom chose not to seek re-election.
In the County Council District 3 race, incumbent Tony Ciriello received 3,079 votes to Democrat Tina Holloway’s 1,848. Holloway had dropped out of the race prior to the election, but too late for the ballots to be changed.
The largest township race was for the three seats on the Wayne Township Board, with seven candidates. Incumbents Lance Grubbs (4,018 votes), Gordon Nash (3,519 votes) and Josh Spangle (3,730 votes) will retain their positions after defeating Democrat Kately Smith (2,318 votes) and Libertarians David Lewis (903 votes), Cassandra Rolon (1,193 votes) and Marco Rolon (645 votes).
Wayne Township Trustee Jeanie Stackhouse also will be back for another four years with her 4,938-vote victory over Libertarian Alexandra Vergiels, who received 1,686 votes.
For the three Plain Township Board seats, Republicans Greg Anderson, Robert Bishop and Larry Kammerer received 1,084; 1,076; and 1,065 votes, respectively, with Democrats Rebecca Noftz, Robert Osbun and Brian Smith receiving 618, 508 and 540 votes.
At Tippecanoe Township, incumbent Trustee Chris Francis held on to his position with 1,503 votes, compared to Democrat Barbara Fabyan’s 563.
Tippecanoe Township Board incumbents Ed Clayton (1,202 votes), Mark Lawson (1,074 votes) and Jim Rhodes (1,194 votes) won their seats for another four years over Democrats Jim Macdonald (489 votes) and Julio Reyes Jr. (425 votes).
Bobbi J. Burkhart, who was uncontested for county assessor, looked back at the elections this year and said, “Throughout this journey, I have been reminded time and again what makes our county so special - the people who call it home. Their trust is not something I take lightly. It is both an honor and a responsibility, and I look forward to serving them with integrity, fairness, transparency and a genuine commitment to doing what is right.”
