Drew Storey of Seymour won a three-way race for the Republican nomination for the District 2 commissioner’s seat in Tuesday’s primary.

Storey, who is presently a member of the Seymour City Council, outdistanced Bret Cunningham, a former city councilman, and Mike Bobb of Seymour, a former county coroner.

The final vote tally showed Storey picking up 3,158 or 54.96% of the votes. Cunningham finished with 1,361 or 23.69% of the vote and Bobb garnering 1,227 or 21.35% of the vote.

“What an honor to win over the public’s support in confidence,” said Storey.

During his campaigning, Storey said he knocked on many doors and sat at peoples’ kitchen tables and porches to talk with and listen to his community. People weren’t afraid to tell him their thoughts and feelings. They were more engaged than Storey had ever seen in previous races he had ran.

“I was thriving off that engagement,” he said.

Being able to interact with the people he was striving to represent was motivating and encouraging for Storey. He spoke with many people that said they did not have an amazing voting history and in the past, were not particularly concerned with voting, but this time, they were determined to make their voices heard.

“It was really nice to see [people] reengage,” Storey said.

When asked about his next steps, Storey said, “I really want to understand what those state resources are for our county.”

As someone who loves to learn, Storey is dedicated to answer this question prior to the general election: “What are we not engaged in in our county that we could be engaged in to benefit our communities?”

Storey said that this was a race that truly felt like a competition. His competition, just like him, worked hard for what they got. The race was ran by “three good Republicans ready to serve,” said Storey.

“I appreciated the candidates, Michael Bobb and Bret Cunningham … pounding the pavement and listening to voters and constituents, and trying to figure out what was important for our county,” he said.

In the only other contested race, voters opted to give the present GOP at-large county council members another shot at the office in the Nov. 5 general election.

The vote county showed John Nolting of Brownstown picking up 3,316 or 23.29% of the votes; Amanda Cunningham Lowery with 3,265 or 22.93% of the votes and R. Brett Turner with 2,996 votes of 21.05%.

Lowery said was impressed by the clean campaigns ran by first-time campaigners Lucas Hanner and Roger Hurt.

“I certainly applaud them for stepping up and throwing their name in the hat to run and represent Jackson County,” Lowery said. “They ran nice, good, clean campaigns and that was refreshing to see.”

Nolting shared similar sentiments.

“I feel like it was a real clean race,” Nolting said. “Lucas Hanner is a young man and I hope he doesn’t get discouraged by not winning his first time out. Roger and I are good friends and we’ve already discussed it between the two of us … I think he will want to run again at some point.

Nolting was also impressed by the turn-out of voters.

“I was really honored and I feel humbled that so many people voted for me, and I really appreciate the amount of people who went out to vote for a primary election,” Nolting said. “Of course, Amanda and Brett Turner and I were tickled to death that the three of us, the incumbents, got to stay on there. We’ve got things in the works that we’d like to see through.”

Hanner plans to run again in four years and said he has learned from his first go-around.

“The biggest takeaway from the campaign I ran is I need to interact more with the residents of Seymour and get my name and face out there,” Hanner said. “But the candidates that were elected will do a great job in there and they fully have my support.”

Hanner plans to run again in four years and said he has learned from his first go-around.

“The biggest takeaway from the campaign I ran is I need to interact more with the residents of Seymour and get my name and face out there,” Hanner said. “But the candidates that were elected will do a great job in there and they fully have my support.”