Rozar is primary winner
By Kevin O’Brien
Donna Rozar of Marshfield emerged as the winner of Tuesday’s four-way Republican primary race for the 69th Assembly District. She will face Democrat Brian Giles in the Nov. 3 general election to determine who will replace outgoing Rep. Bob Kulp of Stratford. Rozar, a registered nurse and member of the Wood County Board of Supervisors, captured 53 percent of the votes cast, followed by Tim Miller of Stratford with 27 percent, Michael Smith of Loyal with 15.8 percent and Matthew Windheuser of Marshfield with 4.2 percent.
In Marathon County, Rozar received 789 votes, or about 48 percent of the total cast. Miller finished in second with 548, followed by Smith with 254 and Windheuser with 53. Results were similar in Clark County, where Rozar earned 993 votes, compared to 686 for Miller, 516 for Smith and 115 for Windheuser.
Giles, who did not face an opponent in the Democratic primary, received 796 votes in Clark County and 733 in Marathon County. In a couple of local precincts, including the city of Abbotsford and the village of Curtiss, Miller outperformed Rozar, and in the town of Hull, both Miller and Smith earned more votes than Rozar.
In other Republican primary news, Marathon County treasurer Audrey Jensen lost her seat to Connie Beyersdorf, who earned a total 6,028 votes across the county, compared to 3,861 for the incumbent. No one ran in the Democratic primary, so barring a successful writein campaign, Beyersdorf will likely be elected as the county’s next treasurer.
Clark County’s treasurer was also unseated in Tuesday’s Republican primary, with incumbent Mary Domanico losing to challenger Renee Schoen, who garnered 2,028 votes (60 percent) compared to 1,345 for Domanico (40 percent).
Local voters were more supportive, in general, of Domanico than the county as whole, with the incumbent winning a majority of the votes in Abbotsford, Colby, Dorchester and most of the surrounding townships.
Just as in Marathon County, there were no candidates on the Democratic side of the ticket for Clark County treasurer, so Schoen will most likely be elected as the new treasurer in November.
The Nov. 3 ballot will also feature a rematch between Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany and Democrat Tricia Zunker, who both won uncontested primaries on Tuesday.
