Democrats on St. Croix gave a vote of confidence to the lawmakers they’d elected two years ago, as four of the seven nominations up for grabs in Saturday’s primary went to the four senators seeking re-election.
Sen. Neville James was the leading vote-getter, tallying 3,424 votes, 13.31 percent of the votes cast in unofficial returns.
Right behind him was Sammuel Sanes, seeking his second term. Sanes took 3,055 votes, 11.87 percent.
Ronald Russell finished third with 2,646, or 10.28 percent, followed by Diane Capehart 2,477, 9.63 percent.
Incumbent Michael Thurland was fifth with 2,344, 9.11 percent, former Senator James A. Webber III finished sixth with 2,315, 9 percent, and Sen. Wayne A.G. James rounded out the top seven by capturing 1,930 votes, or 7.5 percent.
James edged Pedro "Pei" Cruz by a mere 20 votes and those numbers could change before the election is finalized. Cruz received 1,910 votes, 7.42 percent of the votes cast.
Also finishing out of the winners’ circle were:
–Brad Nugent, 1,582, 6.15 percent;
–John F. Tutein, 1,125, 4.37 percent;
–Troy Mason, 1,117, 4.34 percent;
–Sherryann Wiltshire, 907, 3.52 percent; and
–Verdel Petersen, 899, 3.49 percent.
Sen. Craig Barshinger handily defeated his rival in the race for the Democratic nomination for senator-at-large. Barshinger took 6,348 votes 64.44 percent of the votes cast, to 3,501for Ronnie Jones.
Barshinger said losing an election in 2006 changed the way he approached politics when he ran again two years later.
"It always feels good to win, but having lost once changed the way I feel about it," he said. "It changes your view. It’s not your desire that’s important, it’s the desire of the entire electorate."
Now he feels if he represents himself and his ideals well, he’ll feel good about the effort regardless of the outcome.
While he will face two more opponents in Nov. 2’s general election, Barshinger said he’s already looking ahead to the next session, where he plans to lead the charge to "tame the LEAC" by pushing for renewable energy. He also vowed to push the GPS-Addressing initiative, vowing to have a modern street addressing system in place by the end of 2011.
There was an expectant air at the St. Croix election office as people waited for votes to come in. Several-dozen people gathered in the parking lot outside, where a computer had been set up to project the results on the wall.
With polls on the island closing at 7 p.m., the crowd began growing.
Shortly after 8 p.m., when the first results were flashed on the screen, they gathered around staring, trying to get a feel for how their favored candidates were doing.
Inside, a second monitor flashed the same display for a smaller group of media and election officials.
Once the returns started coming in they were updated frequently, and by 9:30 the final results were known. Within minutes the crowd began evaporating to either celebrate or lick their wounds.
What wasn’t known Saturday night was the size of the turnout. For the candidates and their supporters, election day was the end of the trail. For Elections Supervisor John Abramson Jr. and his staff, it was a whirlwind of activity. Abramson was in and out all night, dashing from the back of the offices where the vote was being tallied to the front of the building to deal with a problem or situation. He did not pause on his way to answer reporters’ questions other than to observe that he didn’t have any time, and that he wouldn’t know the percent of turnout until early next week.
