Democrat Julie Thomas retains county commissioners' seat in close race

Monroe County commissioner Julie Thomas likely will serve a third term after defeating challenger Peter Iversen in Tuesday's Democratic primary election by just 269 votes.

Iversen, who's served five years on the county council, got 48.5% of the vote compared to 51.5% for incumbent Thomas.

Thomas, the current commissioners' president, said before the election she is anxious to continue in her leadership role with goals of finishing projects already in the works and those she's been working toward for years, such as construction of a new jail.

Thomas was elected to the Monroe County Council in 2009, completing one term before being elected as one of three on the board of commissioners, which oversees the functions of county government.

Thomas wasn't present at the Democratic Party's post-election event at Cascades Inn Tuesday night when final election results came in about 8:30. She didn't return phone calls from The Herald-Times Tuesday night.

When Iversen arrived at the Democrats' celebration, he knew he was down about 400 votes from Thomas and was hopeful. But after the clerk's office tallied the last batch of precinct totals, the final result was 4,523 votes for Thomas and 4,254 for Iverson.

He was disappointed not to be joining political newcomer Jody Madeira, who ousted incumbent county commissioner Penny Githens in Tuesday's election by getting 44% of the vote in the three-way Democratic primary.

After Iversen and Madeira confirmed final vote totals and realized she had won and he had lost, Madeira went to a conference room to make her acceptance speech and Iversen walked outside the motel, calling Thomas to congratulate her on another term.

From his seat on the county council, which oversees county fiscal matters, Iversen has become increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress on projects ranging from affordable housing for families, climate-change strategies and the much-delayed construction of a new jail.

He said the closeness of the District 2 race is testimony to a division among county residents, half voting to maintain the status quo and the other half voting for a more progressive stance on issues like some Iversen promotes.

Iversen said he'll focus his next two years on the council working for affordable housing, which he said, "time and time again, was what I was hearing from people during this campaign, that local housing costs too much and property taxes are too high."

He also said the county needs a climate-change initiative, and he hopes the council can hire someone to implement a plan.

"The commissioners, they need to move forward," he said. "Presuming Jody becomes the next commissioner, I think there will be a powerful force there to impact things like zoning, housing, the climate crisis and economic development."

Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Julie Thomas wins Democratic commissioners' primary by 269 votes