Kane County voters turned out Commissioner Jim Matson, who was slammed in a state audit last year for allegedly self-dealing by serving as a paid trustee on a special district board and contracting with a consulting firm he owned.
A criminal investigation ended without charges, but Matson was crushed 2-1 by challenger Brent Chamberlain in his GOP primary re-election bid Tuesday.
In Millard County, attorney/rancher/writer/political activist Todd Macfarlane finished third in a three-way county commission GOP race for the Republican nomination that was handily won by Evelyn Warnick.
Macfarlane had represented LaVoy Finicum, who was shot by federal officers at a roadblock during the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation.
Tanner Ainge, who finished third in last year’s 3rd Congressional District GOP primary, is back — this time as the likely next Utah County commissioner after winning the Tuesday runoff with 70 percent of the vote.
There is no Democrat in the race, so Ainge, a financial adviser and the son of Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge, will face United Utah Party candidate Teri McCabe in November.
The open seat is a result of besieged Commissioner Greg Graves’ decision not to seek re-election to a second term.
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