Three incumbents ousted in Parkersburg council races

By JODY MURPHY
PARKERSBURG – It was the end of an era for the city council’s second district.

Incumbent candidate Dorsey Cheuvront, who served the district for 31 years, was knocked off by challenger Sharon Lynch in Tuesday’s Democratic primary election. Unofficial results, with all 85 precincts reporting, had Lynch with 334 votes (56.51 percent) compared to 257 (43.49 percent) for Cheuvront.

“You win eight straight times anything can happen,” Cheuvront said. “You’ve always got a chance of losing when you run a race.”

In the 2005 District 2 primary, Lynch lost by fewer than five votes to the eight-time incumbent.

“This proves District 2 is ready for a change,” Lynch said.

Lynch will be the District 2 council representative as there is no Republican challenger in the general election.

Cheuvront wasn’t the only incumbent to fall in the council primaries. Democrats Jim Myers, in District 4, and District 9 representative Demosthenes Dukas also lost re-election bids. While incumbents Sharyn Tallman and Tom Joyce fought off challengers on the GOP side.

Myers fell to challenger Steven Whitehair, who had 173 votes (55.81 percent), compared to 137 votes for the Democratic incumbent (44.19 percent).

“It turned out the way we thought it would,” Whitehair said. “It was one step, but a very positive step.”

Whitehair will face Republican John Sandy, who was unopposed Tuesday, in the November election.

Dukas lost the closest council race of the evening. He finished second in a four-candidate Democratic race to Sherry Dugan, a former city councilwoman, by 21 votes. Dugan out-distanced the District 9 Democratic field with 193 votes (34.16 percent), compared to 172 votes (30.44 percent) for Dukas. John Beary got 152 votes, while Julia Monroe received 48.

“It was close, very close. Too close for comfort,” Dugan said.

Dugan will face Republican challenger W. James Reed in the general election.

“I’m excited. Somewhat surprised,” Dugan said. “This is a district that you never know. They are very set in there ways. I’m just glad they are going to take a chance on me.”

Dugan previously served on council from 1990-94.

Incumbent District 5 councilwoman Tallman won re-election to council by a near-2-1 margin over challenger Joe Backus. Tallman got 104 votes (65.82) compared to 54 votes for Backus. Tallman has no Democratic challenger in the general election.

Republican Tom Joyce retained his District 7 seat by beating former city councilman John Kelly and former police chief Bill Rhodes. Joyce got 214 votes (43.23 votes) compared to 159 (32.12) for Kelly and 122 (24.65) for Rhodes.

“It’s very humbling,” Joyce said. “Obviously, there are some people who think I have done a good job. It proves that if you are willing to cooperate with the administration and other council people recognize that. They want it that way.”

Joyce isn’t a shoo-in for re-election yet. He will face Democratic challenger Jane Burdette in the November election.

District 1 councilman Don Godfrey changed party affiliation to Independent and did not appear on the primary ballot. Godfrey will vie to keep his seat against Democrat Nancy Wilcox and Republican Kenneth Ed Judy in November.

District 3 councilman Brad Kimes, a Republican, and his Democratic challenger Russell Cunningham were both unopposed in the primary. District 6 council member Mike Reynolds, a Republican, and Democrat challenger Shawn Riley were also unopposed in the primary. District 8 Republican councilman Jim Knapp and Democratic challenger John Rockhold were also unopposed Tuesday.

Incumbent Mayor Bob Newell was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Newell received 4,008 votes. Newell will face Republican challenger Mark Ray, who was also unopposed in the primary, in the general election. Ray got 1,418 votes on the Republican primary slate.