Trump dominates Grundy County, Ross wins re-election

            GRUNDY COUNTY- Though the election hadn’t officially been called when The Grundy Register went to press on Tuesday evening, Republican Donald Trump appeared poised to become the 45th president of the United States, and he won Iowa’s six electoral votes, the first time the state has gone red since 2004. Trump received almost two-thirds of the votes cast in Grundy County, and locally, Republican incumbent county supervisor Jim Ross survived a challenge from independent David Strickler to secure his fourth term in the office.
            According to the unofficial results, 4,516 of the 6,932 voters who cast ballots in the traditionally conservative county (65.1 percent) went for Trump, compared to just 26.6 percent (1,847) for his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Libertarian Gary Johnson also received 3.4 percent of the vote, registering the strongest third party showing.
            “I was very disappointed in the percentage that went for Trump, and I definitely think that Kim Weaver was a better selection than Steve King,” County Democratic Chairwoman Phyllis Holland said. “We learned a lot, we talked to a lot of people, and we’ll try our best to move forward. We’ll take those lessons and use them for the future.”
            Grundy County Republican chairman Brian Andersen did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday evening.
            A total of 1,421 residents in district one, which comprises Beaman, Conrad and the surrounding rural areas, cast votes in the supervisors’ race, and Ross received 65.2 percent of them while Strickler received 357 votes (25.1 percent). The two candidates primarily sparred over the issue of wind farm development in the county as Ross favored it, and Strickler opposed any further projects.
            “I’m very pleased and very grateful for the support,” Ross said. “The only thing we did as supervisors was to preserve the landowners’ rights. That’s basically all we did.”
            Strickler did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
            For the full story, see the November 10 edition of The Grundy Register.