Two incumbent Lake County commissioners lost their seats in Tuesday night’s election while a third one barely hung on for victory over a strong challenger.
Incumbents Timothy Sullivan and Wendy Breeden lost to Douglas B. Shields and Kirby Smith, respectively. With 101 of 103 precincts reporting, Shields had captured 55.23 percent of the ballots cast, or 31,217 votes to Sullivan’s 44.77 percent, or 25,304 votes. Smith had garnered 59.5 percent of the ballots in his race (18,386 votes) to Breeden’s 40.5 percent (12,516 votes).
Shields will take the Commission seat because there were only two candidates running. Smith, however, will face two write-in candidates in the November general election.
Meanwhile, District 5 incumbent Josh Blake squeaked past challenger Todd Luce, who recently retired as a captain with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. Blake captured 53.73 percent of the ballots (16,422 votes) to Luce’s 46.27 percent (14,162 votes).
