Robey Willis can rest easier today, but other candidates in the Carson City area must gear up for the stretch run leading up to the Nov. 7 general election.
Willis commanded more than 80 percent of the vote to regain his seat as one of Carson City's justices of the peace. With the other judge, John Tatro, given a free ride in the primary, Carson residents have spoken pretty clearly that they are satisfied with the men they have running the local courts.
That may not have been the impression some people had, given the heat Willis has been under from Ron Weddell over Willis' handling of a thorny arrest case.
Weddell was a candidate, then not a candidate, then said if he made it through the primary he would become a candidate again in the general. His petition campaign for a grand jury received considerable publicity - filed, as it was, in the midst of early voting.
Willis, though, had few words to say publicly about the grand-jury petition and left it to voters to speak at the polls. Eighty percent is rather loud.
Willis did have a strong statement after the election Tuesday night: "The results validate what a lot of people have said about the grand jury - that a lot of people were lied to."
In the mayor's race, incumbent Ray Masayko finished on top but will go to the general election with former supervisor Tom Tatro close on his heels.
"There's no real advantage to 300 votes," Tatro said of the difference between him and Masayko. He's right, especially when considering that the other two candidates in the primary, Neil Weaver and Tom Keeton, pulled down more than 1,800 votes between them.
The race will be decided on where those votes go.
Richard Staub and Verne Horton also face a tough contest to fill the only contested supervisor's slot in Ward 4. (Jon Plank won re-election without an opponent.) Staub had an advantage of more than 1,000 votes - 12 percentage points, a huge margin - but Frank Sharp grabbed 2,334. Again, we'll see which way those voters turn.
Congratulations to Willis and good luck to those who made it through to the final round, as well as the partisan candidates who had no primary opposition. The "silly season," as they call it, is far from over.
