Porter County’s
only contested County Commissioner race in Tuesday’s primary elections saw
Jim Biggs the winner over fellow Republicans, Jeff Trout and John M. Cannon.
Biggs took 8,424
votes or 38 percent of all ballots cast in the primary race to Trout’s
countywide total of 7,749 votes, about 35 percent.
Cannon garnered
6,105 for a respectable 27 percent, and how the results might have been
different had Cannon not been running is hard to say.
Cannon is a current
Portage City Councilman. Trout has served on various boards in Chesterton
for the past 15 years including the Town Council.
26,402 voters
requested Republican ballots Tuesday and were eligible to vote in the race.
In Duneland,
--which is home to both Biggs and Trout--the story was somewhat different,
with Trout winning both a plurality of the vote, 42 percent to Biggs’ 37
percent (and Cannon’s 21 percent); and a slight majority of its 30
precincts, 17 to Biggs’ 12 (Cannon won a single precinct outright and tied
for first with Trout in another)
Trout’s precincts:
Westchester 5 (the Porter Downtown); W6 (Dune Acres); W7 (Porter north of
Oakhill Road); W8; W10 (south of West Porter Ave., west of 11th Street); W11
(Burns Harbor); W13 (Indian Trails in Porter); W14 (Estates of Sand Creek);
W17 (Burns Harbor’s far west side, with Cannon); W18 (Western Acres);
Jackson 4; Liberty 1 (Crocker, Abercrombie Woods, Westwood Manor): L4 (south
of U.S. 6, west of Meridian Road, north of C.R. 700N); L5 (South of C.R.
1050N, east of Meridian Road); L6 (north of U.S. 6, west of Meridian Road,
and south of C.R. 900N); Pine 1; and P1.
Biggs’ precincts:
W1 (Morgan Park); W3 (Biggs’ home precinct, including South Second Street);
W4 (between Broadway and West Porter Ave. west of 12th Street); W9 (Olde
Town, Duneland Cove); W12 (South Park Acres, Dunewood Drive, Shannon Drive,
Oakwood Drive, and parts of Chestnut Hills); J1; J2; J3; J5; L2 (north of
U.S. 6, east of C.R. 200W, south of CSX); L3 (south of C.R. 900N, east of
Ind. 49); L7 (south of C.R. 700N and west of Meridian Road).
Cannon’s precincts:
W16 (Porter’s far west side); and--with Trout--W17 (Burns Harbor’s far west
side).
Biggs told the
Chesterton Tribune this morning he “tips his hat to both Jeff and John”
for having run “very strong campaigns.” He said he “is humbled by the
support” voters gave to him in the election.
Biggs said he
thought he and Trout had much in common in their campaign messages, both
wanting to see a plan developed for the County.
“We wanted a lot of
the same things. We just said it differently,” said Biggs. “I think that had
(Cannon) not ran, the numbers between Jeff and myself would be drastically
different,” Biggs said.
Being a current
County Council member and previous County Commissioner is what Biggs thinks
helped him gain a stronger recognition in the County. His forthright
opposition to the banquet center proposed for Indiana Dunes State Park and
the Great Lakes Basin Transportation rail line may have been another boost,
he said
Trout was endorsed
by the current North District County Commissioner seatholder, Republican
John Evans, while Biggs had support from Center District County Commissioner
Jeff Good.
Evans chose not to
run this year for what would be his fifth term.
Biggs will face
Democrat candidate Jeff Chidester in the November general election.
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