Miller, Deering, Budzinski, Root And Mendenhall Among Winners In Tuesday’s Primary Election

      Although the results are not official as I’m writing this update, primary races that have been of special interest of our coverage over the last many months finally have winners.

     Congresswoman Mary Miller of Oakland defeated Congressman Rodney Miller of Taylorville in the 15th District Republican Primary.  There’s not much doubt that the appearance of former President Donald Trump at an Illinois rally  in support of Miller, just a few days before the primary, made an impact favoring Miller.

      Regan Deering of Decatur won the Republican Primary in the 13th District while Nikki Budzinski won the Democrat Primary in the 13th.  The two will meet in the November General Election.

     Macon County Sheriff Jim Root beat challenger Cody Moore by a wide margin and this time there is no doubt that Root won and he will have a full-term ahead of him because there is no democrat running for the office in the general election.

     Shane Mendenhall won the Republican Primary for Macon County Circuit Judge by beating Rodney Forbes.  Mendenhall will move on to the General Election.

     That’s a very brief look at some of the races we’ve been especially interested in at the Tribune.

     More information and comments by the winners and losers can be found elsewhere on this website.

     • As I mentioned last week, it seems like the candidates’ campaigns leading up to yesterday’s (Tuesday’s) election lasted forever! Now we know (hopefully) who the winners are in the races impacting our community. As most of you know, I’ve been editor and publisher of this newspaper since 1969 and I’ve witnessed and reported on a lot of candidates and campaigns but I have to confess some of the campaigns involved in this primary election were about the nastiest I’ve ever seen! Frankly, I expected better from some of those who should be setting the example on how citizens should behave. The constant lies and half-truths told about opponents really turned me off!

     • I RECEIVED several “letters to the editor” in support of candidates AFTER the deadline for publication in last Wednesday’s edition (the last one before the election). If your letter in support of a candidate didn’t appear in the last edition, it was because we received it too late to include in the “Letters” section.

     • NOW that the primary election is history, I have to admit that one tactic that a few of the campaigns used in sending out their news releases was a “first” for me to read. Whenever a candidate who used this tactic was in a debate or forum the news release was usually headlined with him or her being the “clear winner” of the event. However, it was only the writer of the candidate’s news release that had made the “clear winner” claim. There was no attribution to anyone else actually stating he or she was the “clear winner”.

     • PARTY LINE REACTION — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that prevented states from banning abortion. Reaction to the decision followed Democrat and Republican lines in the comments by candidates and officeholders. While conservatives celebrated a victory, liberals were “outraged” by the decision. Now, some citizens who believe the court is “too conservative”, want to increase the number of justices in order to “balance” the political make-up of the court. Isn’t that somewhat like wanting to change the rules at a sporting event because your team lost due to the interpretation of the present rules?

     • I WAS at a fast food restaurant in Decatur a few days ago when the manager told me that they had some excitement earlier in the day. “I wasn’t here then, but I was told a customer pulled a gun!” she told me. She didn’t mention why the customer pulled a gun (it wasn’t a robbery), but I could tell it was quite alarming. It was also not good for business, which is the reason I’m not mentioning the restaurant by name. I didn’t feel unsafe there, but there is a growing concern on the part of our readers about the gun violence in our community. I never thought I would live to see the day that schools, churches, malls and even fast food restaurants are not immune to gun violence. Once it was confined to certain areas of town. Now you can get hit by a stray or intended bullet about anywhere in our community. Be careful and always be aware of your surroundings. This is not the same world that it was when we were growing up.

     • MY “VIEWPOINT” this week in the print and online editions is about the staggering amount of mismanagement and waste of the taxpayers’ money by the federal government. My column only has the space to feature a few of the almost countless ways our tax dollars have been and continue to be, squandered. Check it all out at https://www.openthebooks.com/ which will also show how billions of dollars in checks were issued to dead people!

     • SCOTT Reeder’s column will return to this page next week. He’s been on vacation.

     • I JOIN Brian Byers on WSOY’s Byers & Co. every Thursday morning at 7:00 to discuss the issues involving our community. I always enjoy our chat.

     • HAPPY July 4th everyone! Stay safe because we don’t want something tragic to happen to you!