Watson wins St. Clair County sheriff election over Republican challenger
Unofficial election results show incumbent Democrat Rick Watson won the race for St. Clair County Sheriff against Republican Nick Gailius on Tuesday night.
St. Clair County voters cast 55,060 votes for Watson and 41,401 votes for Gailius with all precincts reporting.
The result follows an at times problematic campaign for Watson — complaints about Watson’s pension surfaced, he endured a campaign gaffe involving a mailer, and a county worker resigned after it became clear she was doing campaign work for Watson on county time.
The St. Clair County Clerk posted early numbers shortly before 10 p.m. The East St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners reported 25 of 25 precincts shortly after 9 p.m.
There were 11 incumbent County Board members seeking to keep their seats, while three seats were up for grabs in contested elections between Republican and Democratic candidates.
Democrats kept their majority with the GOP losing one seat. Democrats kept at least 20 seats and Republicans kept eight seats. Republicans previously had nine seats on the board.
In District 21, Bert “Dean” Pruett (R-Freeburg) took the seat from incumbent Frank “F.X.” Heiligenstein (D-Freeburg) with 51 percent of the vote.
In District 23, incumbent Fred Boch (R-O’Fallon) lost his seat to Richie Meile (D-O’Fallon), who garnered 52 percent of the vote.
The races for County Clerk, Treasurer and Board of Review were also contested.
St. Clair County saw 52 percent voter turnout.
Here are the unofficial results for St. Clair County.
St. Clair County Clerk
Thomas “Tom” Holbrook * (D-Swansea): 57,268
Duane Henson (R-East Carondelet): 39,010
215 of 215 precincts reporting
St. Clair County Treasurer
Andrew Lopinot (D-O’Fallon): 53,664
Philip Kammann (R-Belleville): 41,624
215 of 215 precincts reporting
St. Clair County Board of Review
Michael Crockett Jr. * (D-Millstadt): 52,199
Phillip “Phil” Henning (R-Smithton): 42,770
215 of 215 precincts reporting
St. Clair County Assessor
Jennifer Gomric Minton (D-Belleville): Uncontested
St. Clair County Board District 1
Robert Allen Jr. * (D-Fairmont City): 1,560
C. Catherine Demers (R-Collinsville): 824
All precincts reporting.
St. Clair County Board District 3
Willie “Leavell” Dancy * (D-East St. Louis): Uncontested
St. Clair County Board District 7
Melinda “Mindy” Schneidewind (D-Marissa): 1,044
Ed Cockrell (R-New Athens): 2,794
All precincts reporting.
St. Clair County Board District 8
Ken Easterley * (D-Belleville): 2,297
Deborah Brennan (R-Belleville): 1,385
All precincts reporting.
St. Clair County Board District 10
Paul Seibert * (D-Belleville): 1,806
Cindi McDonald (R-Belleville): 1,321
All precincts reporting.
St. Clair County Board District 11
Jerry Dinges * (D-Belleville): 1,709
Nicholas Wiesbrock (R-Belleville): 1,147
All precincts reporting.
St. Clair County Board District 12
Susan Gruberman * (D-Belleville): 1,885
Kevin Wallace (R-Belleville): 1,314
All precincts reporting.
St. Clair County Board District 13
Cheryl Newsome (D-Belleville): 2,285
Steve Reeb * (R-Shiloh): 2,681
All precincts reporting.
St. Clair County Board District 14
Bob Trentman * (D-Belleville): 2,301
Albert Meints Hampton (R-Swansea): 988
All precincts reporting.
St. Clair County Board District 17
Steve Gomric * (D-Belleville): Uncontested
St. Clair County Board District 18
Matthew Smallheer (R-O’Fallon): Uncontested
St. Clair County Board District 19
Jana Armstrong Moll (D-Belleville): 1,158
Daniel Weidenbenner (R-Shiloh): 1,069
All precincts reporting.
St. Clair County Board District 20
Donna Cameron (D-Mascoutah): 1,070
Kevin Dawson * (R-Mascoutah): 2,718
All precincts reporting.
St. Clair County Board District 21
Frank “F.X.” Heiligenstein * (D-Freeburg): 1,954
Bert “Dean” Pruett (R-Freeburg): 2,167
All precincts reporting.
St. Clair County Board District 22
Michael O’Donnell * (R-Millstadt): Uncontested
St. Clair County Board District 23
Richie Meile (D-O’Fallon): 2,044
Fred Boch * (R-O’Fallon): 1,768
All precincts reporting.
St. Clair County Board District 26
Scott Tieman * (D-Belleville): Uncontested
St. Clair County Board District 27
Kenneth Sharkey * (D-Fairview Heights): 2,176
Matthew Stirrup (R-Fairview Heights): 1,159
All precincts reporting.
St. Clair County Board District 28
Scott Greenwald (D-Fairview Heights): 2,357
Kurt Schutz (R-Fairview Heights): 1,707
All precincts reporting.
*Incumbent
This story was originally published November 6, 2018 at 9:36 PM.