Libby mayor wins Lincoln County race

The Daily Inter Lake

Longtime Libby Mayor Tony Berget will shift his leadership role from city to county government come Jan. 1.

Berget, a Republican, won the Lincoln County Commissioner District 1 race by a sizable margin in Tuesday's general election, trumping write-in candidate Jerry Okonski by a vote of 5,432 to 2,422. Berget has served as mayor of Libby for a decade. He owns a print shop and does pump repair and well drilling.

Commissioner Rita Windom is retiring and did not seek re-election.

In House District 1, Democratic former state legislator Eileen Carney lost to Republican Gerald Bennett. Bennett received 2,413 votes while Carney won 1,491 votes. Carney served as a representative from 2001 through 2004, then ran unsuccessfully in 2004 and lost to Republican Ralph Heinert two years ago.

Chas Vincent, the Republican incumbent in House District 2, easily won re-election over Democrat Timothy Linehan, with a final vote of 3,240 to 1,652.

Lincoln County Clerk of District Court Susan Farmer won re-election on the Republican ticket; she was unopposed.

In national races, Lincoln County voters favored Republican John McCain for president, Democrat Max Baucus for U.S. Senator and Republican Denny Rehberg for U.S. Representative.

IN LAKE COUNTY, Republican Bill Barron won election as county commissioner by defeating Democrat Jeanne Windham, 7,154 votes to 6,017 votes.

District Judge C.B. McNeil won re-election with 56 percent of the vote. McNeil had 7,085 votes to defeat Arlee lawyer Joey Jayne, who had 5,425 votes.

Lake County voters narrowly favored Barack Obama for president over John McCain.

In legislative races, state Sen. John Brueggeman, R-Polson, and Rep. Janna Taylor, R-Proctor, won re-election in districts that cover parts of Flathead and Lake counties.

Republican Scott Reichner was elected in House District 9 and Democrat John Fleming was elected in House District 12.