MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — The Iowa primary election featured many huge victories, but other races were only decided by a few dozen votes, including the race for the Republican nomination to run for Marshall County Supervisor.
Three Republican candidates, Kevin C. Goodman, Ruth Lycke and Bill Schendel, all campaigned to replace retiring supervisor Steve Salasek.
Goodman and Schendel received over 90% of the total votes in Tuesday's election, with Goodman winning the Republican nomination by just 62 votes (Goodman: 716; Schendel: 654).
When Local 5 News spoke with Schendel about the election on Thursday, he said the whole thing was "nuts," adding, "Anybody who thinks, 'I am not going to go vote, it doesn't matter.' It really does. Even right here locally."
Schendel said he didn't hear about the results until Wednesday morning, since he was celebrating a family birthday. When he finally learned he had lost, he said he did what he could, and "tried to give it an effort."
He mentioned after talking to his constituents and door knocking, Schendel realized Tuesday morning he had a feeling he'd finish in second place as a lot of county residents were telling him they planned to vote for his opponent, Goodman.
Tuesday primary elections in Iowa were not the first time a central Iowa city saw a race this close. Less than three years ago, Local 5 News followed the Osceola mayoral race that had ended in a tie and required a drawing to decide the race.
It's evident local elections can come down to every single vote as we saw in Osceola in 2021, and again in a similar case in Marshall County on Tuesday.
There's no Democrat in the race right now to fill the vacant Marshall County Supervisor position. Therefore, after Tuesday's primary victory, Goodman has a clear, uncontested path to the supervisor seat in the November general election.