Danny Talkington was effectively elected the new Stoddard County presiding commissioner Tuesday evening during the primary election.
Talkington faced three Republican challengers in the primary and no other party candidates in the November general election. Incumbent Greg Mathis chose not to seek re-election after 16 years in office.
Talkington defeated Brock Williams, Jeff Riddle and Sam Huey Jr. by gathering nearly 48 percent of votes and winning every precinct but two in the county.
Williams won the rural and city of Puxico precincts.
Williams was the second vote-getter at 21.67, followed by Riddle with 15.57 percent and Huey Jr. with 15.04 percent.
"I think people looked at experience," said Talkington, who previously held the associate commissioner position from 2013 to 2016. "I think when they compared my background with all the others, there was nobody who compared to the accounting background I have, plus the four years experience I have as associate commissioner."
Williams said he learned a lot while going through his first campaign.
"Obviously we are disappointed with the results and I wish we would have performed better," he said.
Williams believes Talkington's campaign experience helped him during the months leading up to last night's vote.
"Danny is a fine man and I think he will do a good job in the position," Williams said. "I was learning as we were going. There are things we probably should have done differently and I learned a lot."
Williams has not ruled out running for an elected position in the future.
County Clerk Joe Watson said voter turnout in Stoddard County was higher than previous primaries at 29.63 percent, but was about what he expected.
"I think what brought voters out was the propositions for the jail," he said.
Of the 19,877 registered voters in Stoddard County, a total of 5,890 ballots were cast.
"Everything ran smoothly," Watson said. "All the election workers did a great job. I'm real proud of the work they have done."