KEARNEY, Neb. — A familiar face in area politics owns a big lead in a contest for a new position and other races are narrowing down their fields of candidates.

8,516 people voted in Tuesday’s primary election in Buffalo County. That number is good for a 27.7% voter turnout rate, which is slightly higher than the state average. Of the voters, 6,410 were Republicans, 1,476 were Democrats, 41 were Libertarians, five were members of the Legal Marijuana Now party and 584 were nonpartisan.

Longtime Kearney mayor Stan Clouse holds a considerable lead in the race for Legislative District 37 heading to November. Clouse topped fellow Republican Lana Peister by 25% and beat nonpartisan Nathan Leach by 48%. The winner in the general election will replace state Sen. John Lowe, who can’t run again because of term limits.

Dan McKeon of Amherst has the advantage in the race for District 41 heading to the general election. He received 400 more votes than Ethan Clark of Ord despite being outspent by tens of thousands of dollars. District 41 includes rural Buffalo and Hall counties in addition to six other counties.

The Kearney City Council will have new faces next year. Jonathan Nikkila is the only incumbent running for the three spots up for election this year. He was the top vote-getter on Tuesday, followed by Alex Straatmann and Shawna Meyer.

People in Shelton voted in favor of bonds to fund a new pool by 32% margin. According to our news partners KSNB Local 4, the bond is for $3.5 million and the project will cost $3.9 million.

Buffalo County

President - Republican

Donald J. Trump   5,082

Nikki Haley        981

Perry Johnson     121

President - Democrat

Joseph R. Biden Jr.     1,213

Dean Phillips                187

U.S. Senate - Republican

Deb Fischer.     4,936

Arron Kowalski   1,296

U.S. Senate - Republican

Pete Ricketts          4,862

John Glen Weaver    1,150

Mac Stevens            258

U.S. Senate - Democrat

Preston Love. Jr.      1,157

U.S. Congress - Republican

Adrian Smith         4,549

John Walz              1,354

Robert McCuiston    339

U.S. Congress - Democrat

Daniel Ebers          531

David J. Else           583

Kearney School Board (six advance)

Amy Barth         3,402

Amanda Smallcomb   2,729

Niki Deeds         2,689

Chad Gillespie   2,425

Steve Gaasch    1,706

Casey Schilke      1,202

Will Kirkland     789

Charles K. Kreis    647

Jason Peck       583

Kearney City Council (six advance)

Jonathan Nikkila      3,493

Alex Straatmann       3,411

Shawna Meyer       1,840

Kurt Schmidt            1,654

Bryce Nelson             674

Jamie Bernu             662

Eric Mortimore          255

Eric Davis                  142

Gibbon Mayor (top two advance)

Leon Stall    141

Matthew Branch    117 

Jeffrey Burmood    42

Shelton Swimming Pool Bonds

Yes        167

No         86