Crawford County sheriff, county clerk races set for runoffs; Holmes elected prosecuting attorney

With 97% of the totals reported in Tuesday’s (May 24) primary election in Crawford County, Kevin Holmes won the nonpartisan prosecuting attorney race, but none of the candidates for the county judge, sheriff or county clerk had 50% of the votes following the primary.

Crawford County Prosecuting Attorney Rinda Baker did not seek reelection. Presley is the chief deputy prosecuting attorney in the county. Holmes is a former deputy city prosecutor for Van Buren and is a founding member of Van Buren-based Hopkins & Holmes law firm.

Crawford County Judge Dennis Gilstrap did not seek re-election and plans to retire at the end of the year. Sheriff Jimmy Damante and County Clerk Jo Wester did not seek reelection. Daniel Perry and Shannon Gregory were the top two vote-getters in the race for sheriff. Stacey Shelley and Tim Walker were the top two in the clerk’s race.

Following are the vote totals in the top county races as provided by County Clerk Jo Wester.
Prosecuting Attorney
Kevin Holmes: 5,227 (49.84%)
Robert Presley II: 4,687 (44.69%)

County Judge
Raymond Harvey: 2,776 (29.02%)
Chris Keith: 4,148 (43.36%)
Scott Overby: 2,116 (22.12%)

Sheriff
Shannon Gregory: 2,654 (27.74%)
James Mirus: 2,313 (24.18%)
Daniel Perry: 3,297 (34.46%)
Wayne Sandusky: 1,055 (11.03%)

County Clerk
Stacey Shelley: 3,706 (38.74%)
Tim Walker: 3,340 (34.91%)
Anthony Whitman: 1,647 (17.22%)

Circuit Clerk Sharon Blount-Baker, a Republican, is running unopposed, as are Republicans Collector Kevin Pixley, Assessor Sandra Heiner and Coroner Pam Wells. Republican Daniel Watson is running unopposed for county treasurer.