Yuma County Sheriff Ralph Ogden secured his fourth term as sheriff in Tuesday's primary election, barring any Republican candidate filing to run against him in November.

Ogden, a Democrat, faced fellow Democrat challenger Norma Nelson for the position.

With 42 of the 42 precincts reporting unofficial returns, and all the early ballots counted, Ogden received 3,358 votes, compared to Nelson's 2,447 votes.

Ogden will move on to the Nov. 4th general election, where there is currently no opposition.

In another contested primary race - for District 1 Supervisor - incumbent Lenore Lorona-Stuart, who had 668 votes, defeated challenger Paulo Escalante, who had 307.

In an election that featured only five contested races, incumbent Republican Casey Prochaska, who was making a bid for another term on the board of supervisors for District 3, was in one of them.

Prochaska was well ahead of her GOP opponent Marcus Moore Jr. Prochaska, with 1,170 votes, had nearly twice as many votes as Moore, who had 669.

Since there was no Democratic candidate for this seat, Prochaska will run unopposed in the general election.

In the race for Yuma County Recorder between Democrats Brenda Wehrle and Francisco Vasquez, Wehrle got the nod from voters, with 3,520 votes compared to Vasquez's 2,032.

Wehrle will move on to the general election where she will run against Republican Robyn Stallworth Pouquette, who ran unopposed in the primary, receiving 4,509 votes.

In the Republican race for U.S. Congress - Arizona District 7, Joseph Sweeney easily defeated Gene Chewning. Sweeney had 3,311 votes while Chewning had 1,311.

Sweeney now faces the incumbent Democrat, U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, who received 4,894 votes in his party's primary.

The three remaining Board of Supervisor seats, Districts 2, 4 and 5 were also up for grabs but the candidates in those races did not have opponents in the primary election, so the candidates all move on to the general election.

In District 2, incumbent Republican Russell McCloud, who received 1,605 votes will face Democrat Donna Phipps, who received 1,241, in the general election. In District 4, incumbent Democrat Marco Antonio Reyes, who received 762 votes, will face Republican challenger David Lara, who had 198.

District 5 Supervisor Greg Ferguson who also ran unopposed in the Republican primary, receiving 801 votes, does not have an opponent in the general in his bid for a new four-year term.

In the race for Yuma County Treasurer, another race that won't be decided until the general election, Democrat Daniel Dawson received 4,726 votes while Republican David Egeberg received 4,175 in his party's primary.

Of the three judge positions up for grabs in the primary election, none were contested. However, Republican John Minore, who had 4,369 votes, will face Democrat Maria Elena Cruz, who had 4,502 in the general election for the Division 6 bench seat.

Superior Court Judge Mark Wayne Reeves, a Democrat, ran unopposed for the Division 1 seat, receiving 4,940 votes, as did Republican Superior Court Judge Andrew Gould, who received 4,711 votes in the race for Division 2.

Also running unopposed were Democrats Assessor Joe Wehrle, who had 5,044 votes, County Attorney Jon Smith, who received 4,946 and Republican School Superintendent Tom Tyree, who received 4,605. All three candidates won their party's nomination and will advance to the general election, where they also are running unopposed.

In the races for other state offices, all three candidates in the race for State Representative District 24, Republican Russ Jones, 4,752 votes, and Democrats Lynne Pancrazi, 4,578 votes, and Theresa Ulmer 3,840 votes, will advance to the general because neither party had more than two candidates running for the two legislative seats that are available for the district.

The race for State Senator District 24 won't be decided in the primary either, as both state Sen. Amanda Aguirre, D-Yuma, 5,113 votes and Green Party candidate Jack Kretzer, 29 votes, ran unopposed and advanced to the general election.

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James Gillberrt can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.