Township results post few surprises in Gogebic County

By TOM LAVENTURE

tlaventure@yourdailyglobe.com

The partisan primary election results from Tuesday showed there were some changes in contested seats going forward to the general election in November, but many incumbents for town offices ran unopposed.

In Ironwood Township, the Democratic voters chose incumbent Mary Segalin for the town clerk with 313 votes against the 242 votes for challenger Marlene Saari Mieloszyk. There were no Republican candidates.

There were five Democratic candidates in the Ironwood Township trustee race where the top four will go on to the general election. Incumbent Kevin Lyons led all vote totals with 427, followed by challengers Gabe Justinak with 416 votes, Vicki Nelson with 413 votes and Sandy Lahtinen with 320 votes. Incumbent Bernard Brunello fell short with 294 votes.

Two Republican trustee candidates will also be competing for the four seats in November. They are Brenda Aili-Angus, who received 111 votes Tuesday and James Simmons Jr. had 103 votes.

Jay Kangas received 494 votes as the unopposed Democratic candidate for township supervisor. Maria Graser, Democrat, received 487 votes for treasurer.

In Marenisco Township, the Democratic trustee candidate Kelly Dunbar received 49 votes in his bid for one of two open seats in the general election. David Earl Hagen received 30 votes and will also appear on the November ballot.

Bruce Mahler received 51 votes as the Republican candidate for Marenisco Township supervisor. There were no Democratic candidates.

Democratic candidate Donna Kenney received 50 votes for township clerk, while Kathy Leonard received 45 votes for township treasurer. Neither faces Republican opposition in November.

Wakefield Township voters approved incumbent Democrat Gerald Niemi for one of two trustee seats with 44 votes. Robert Drier received 58 votes and will also appear on the ballot. Michael Heikkila fell short with 26 votes.

Mandy Lake received 66 votes as the unopposed Democratic candidate for Wakefield Township supervisor. Jennifer Ahonen, Democrat, received 66 votes for clerk.

Denice Laessig received 15 votes as the Republican candidate for treasurer.

Watersmeet Township voters will have two Republican candidates seeking two open township trustee seats. Incumbent Alan Piel received 117 votes and challenger Peter Lievense Jr. had 103 votes.

Bill Neumann received 107 votes as the unopposed Republican candidate for township supervisor.

Mike Rogers received 139 votes as the Democratic candidate for supervisor.

Incumbent township clerk Julie Mathiesen received 157 votes as the Democratic candidate.

Paul Donald Kemppainen received 163 votes for treasurer.

In Bessemer Township, incumbent clerk Debbie Janczak received 196 votes as the unopposed Democrat. Incumbent trustee Beverly Ikola, a Democrat, received 186 votes. She was the only candidate from either party running for trustee.

There were also no candidates from either party on the ballot for the offices of township supervisor or treasurer.

In Erwin Township, Larry Grimsby received 61 votes as the sole Democrat for supervisor.

Betty Perkis received 70 votes as the unopposed Democrat running for clerk.

William Hellen, Democrat, received 65 votes for trustee. James Anderson, the Republcan candidate for trustee received 26 votes.

Roberta Nuce, the Republcan candidate for treasurer, received 24 votes.

The city of Ironwood had one contested race on the ballot which was to choose a delegate to the county convention for the city. The two Republicans running in Precinct 1 included Charles Best, who received 56 votes to outpace Rachel Slaughter with 49 votes. The Precinct 2 candidate running unopposed was Linda Ellen with 72 votes.