ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Like the rest of Tuesday’s local races, the race for two Seward County Commission seats saw little, if any, surprises.
As expected, challenger Todd Stanton took home the prize in District 1, taking nearly 80 percent of the vote, according to the unofficial results from Seward County Clerk Stacia Long.
The District 5 race was won by incumbent Steve Helm, who got nearly 87 percent of the votes cast there. Both Stanton and Helm received write-in challenges, with Stanton being challenged by District One incumbent C.J. Wettstein, whom he defeated in the August primary. Helm was challenged by Bee Symons, who he also defeated in August.
Both Stanton and Helm were pleased with Tuesday’s results.
“It obviously went good for me,” Helm said.
“I thought it went very well,” Stanton said.
Helm, who has served one term on the commission, said his goals are simple going into his second term.
“I want to see the county commission continuing to be conservative,” he said.
Helm said there are some things the commission needs to work on going into 2025, but he did not specify what those things are.
“That’s for the whole commission, not one person,” he said. “It takes a majority of the commission to make something work.”
Overall, Helm liked how Tuesday’s election went in his district and in other races, but he did feel there were some areas where improvements could be made elsewhere.
“It was a good election,” he said. “I just didn’t like all the negativity in all the other races.”
As for Stanton, he said current Commission Chairman Scott Carr will set the agenda for the board for the upcoming year.
“I look forward to working with him on those efforts he wishes to move forward with,” Stanton said. “I would assume those will include ongoing Road and Bridge issues as well as in-depth look at the county budgeting process.”
Stanton said these are the primary issues with which he campaigned, and he said he was quite pleased with the turnout for Tuesday’s vote.
“I thank everyone who came out and voted in District One,” he said.
