Several key local races in the 2026 Primary Election, held Tuesday, May 12 will see several new leadership faces in office next year.
Locally, voter turnout reached right at 53.27 percent, with a total of 2,186 ballots cast out of 4,104 registered voters in Clay County.
In the race for the sheriff’s office, to replace retiring, and longtime sheriff, Jeff Franklin, Christhian Gabriel out dueled Kreighton Baxter by 243 votes, as Gabriel gained 972 votes, with Baxter earning 729.
In the race for Clay County’s Assessor’s office, Shelly Ives outdistanced Cynthia Furman by a narrow margin of 73 votes, with Ives gaining 847, and Furman, 774.
Cierra Carlson earned the large majority of votes in the race for the Clerk of the District Court, gaining a total of 1,011 votes, compared to 585 votes for Shawna Lindblad.
The highly contested Legislative District 38 race, locally gave Suttonite Tim Anderson the local lead, outpacing runner-up Melanie Knight of Clay Center by nearly 1,000 votes, as Anderson collected 1,327 Clay County votes, while Knight received 330.
District wide, however, Anderson, along with Janell Anderson-Ehrke will advance to November’s General Election, as Anderson held a 328 vote edge over Anderson- Ehrke with Anderson gaining an unofficial total of 3,130 votes, while Anderson- Ehrke gained 2,802.
