5 things we learned from election results in La Salle, Bureau, Putnam counties

Here’s what we learned from the five races we were watching Tuesday night.

Amy “Muri” Briel has the inside path to succeed Lance Yednock

Briel holds a 505 vote lead Tuesday after all precincts were counted in La Salle, Bureau and DeKalb counties. Briel, who served as Yednock’s chief of staff, has 23,459 votes and her political opponent Liz Bishop has garnered 22,954 in unofficial results. There still are mail-in ballots that may be counted. Yednock has served as the state representative in the district since 2019, besting state Rep. Jerry Long, R-Streator, to take back a 76th District State Representative seat long held by Democrats.

Don Jensen is ahead in La Salle County chairman race, GOP in position to gain 2 County Board seats

Jensen appears to have held off a challenge from Finance Committee Chairman Brian Dose, D-Ottawa. Jensen has a lead of 4,658 votes with all precincts counted in unofficial voting results. Joining Jensen could be Republicans Tom Templeton and James Bailey, who are both leading in their races, and will have flipped Democratic seats for the GOP.

Peru residents favor a municipal pool

Peru residents voted by a margin of 2,415 to 1,090 in favor of constructing and operating a municipal swimming pool funded by the use of the hotel/motel tax. These totals are with all precincts counted Tuesday, but remain unofficial until the results are certified. The referendum is nonbinding, meaning the Peru City Council still will get final authorization on the question.

Bureau County is on its way to having a new state’s attorney, coroner

If the results stand, Daniel C. Anderson, who works in the state’s attorney’s office, will succeed Thomas Briddick, who decided not to run. Kurt Workman, a Republican from Princeton, is ahead of incumbent Alexandria “Lexi” Wamhoff, a Democrat, who took over the office after the retirement of her grandmother Janice Wamhoff. Workman received 7,937 votes compared to Wamhoff’s 7,394, in unofficial vote totals.

Putnam County appears to say no to school referendum

Putnam County residents decided they do not want the school district to borrow money and move to a single campus in Granville. According to unofficial results, with all precincts counted, there were 1,630 voters that said no to the question and 1,220 that said yes.