Whiteside County Board a contested race in two of three districts

MORRISON – Twenty-seven candidates are hoping to become Whiteside County Board members in Tuesday’s election.

Only 18 seats are available, however.

As is required after every U.S. census, all 27 Whiteside County Board seats – nine in each district – are up for grabs.

There are 14 candidates seeking to fill nine spots in District 1 and 13 candidates vying for nine seats in District 2.

District 3 has nine candidates total, so that race is not contested.

One of its candidates, however, former Morrison police Chief Brian Melton, is the town’s new city administrator and, as such, is disqualified from being a board member. That means the board will appoint another Republican to take his place.

The new job came too late to remove Melton’s name from the ballot.

Running in District 1 are six incumbent Democrats: James C. Duffy, Thomas L. Ausman, Fidencio Hooper-Campos, Owen Harrell, Ernest Smith and Joan Padilla; and Democratic newcomers Christine Romesburg, Sean M. Bond and Alex Regalado.

District 1 Republican candidates are incumbents Kurt E. Glazier and Thomas P. Witmer; and Terry Woodard, Michael J. Clark and Sally Douglas.

All but Douglas are from Sterling; she is from Coleta.

District 2 also has six incumbent Democrats in the race: Glenn C. Truesdell, Karen Nelson, Katherine A. Nelson, Shawn Dowd, Paul J. Cunniff and George P. Kelly; Cody Dornes is the newcomer, and all are from Rock Falls.

District 2′s Republican candidates are incumbents Brooke Pearson and Linda Pennell, both of Rock Falls, and Douglas Wetzell of Deer Grove. The newcomers are Matt Ward of Lyndon and Brhenan Linke of Morrison.

The eight District 3 shoe-ins are Democrats Sue Britt of Morrison and Daniel L. Bitler of Albany, and Republicans Glenn A. Frank and Martin Koster, both of Morrison, Mark Hamilton and Larry Russell, of Fulton, Chad Weaver of Erie, and Douglas E. Crandall of Prophetstown.

All but Crandall are District 3 incumbents.

Both Woodard in District 1 and Crandall in District 3 are former board members. Woodard served three and a half years, from May 2005 through November 2008, and Crandall served a little less than five and a half years, from July 2015 through November 2020.

The current balance of the board is 15 Democrats and 12 Republicans.

At the organizational meeting held after the general election, names will be drawn to determine which board members will start with two-year terms and which will serve four-year terms. All terms will end in 2032, when the post-census process will return.