It’s Linn against Skinner
Primary Election
by Jonathan Van Dyke

Incumbent John Linn will be moving forward in his quest for a second term with the Sublette County Commission after narrowly winning the Republican primary.

“The vote goes into the general election now,” Linn said. “[Democratic nominee] Courtney Skinner is a strong opponent.” Linn garnered 43.78 percent of the vote, while his opponents Cat Urbigkit and David Smith received 39.78 percent and 16.23 percent in unofficial results.

“It feels good,” Linn said. “I appreciate the confidence the Sublette County people have entrusted in me and I hope I can keep their support and trust.”

Moving forward in the campaign, Linn said he is open to listening to the voters that did and didn’t vote for him concerning what needs to happen in the county.

“My whole investment is here in Sublette County and I don’t intend to shy away from the tough issues,” Linn added.

While the numbers show a predominantly Republican county, Linn will not be taking the winner of the Democratic primary lightly.

“I feel like Courtney has lots of great ideas,” Linn said. “He’s campaigning hard. It would be out of respect if nothing else to campaign hard against him.”

Skinner defeated fellow Democrat Susan Kramer by garnering 56.34 percent of the vote. This is his third try at a county commission seat. Skinner could not be reached for comment.

Charles Stough managed to win the Republican nomination for state representative for House District 22, a constituency of three counties — but predominantly of Sublette County.

“Boy it really feels good,” Stough said. “It’s wonderful that we were able to do it in a clean and non-controversial way. Donn [Wooden] was a terrific opponent and he ran a terrific campaign. I’m really looking forward to his continued input going forward.”

Stough took 73.31 percent of the vote in Sublette County, helping put him over the top in a district that is divided between Sublette, Teton and Lincoln counties. Wooden won in both other counties, but the precincts reporting there had far fewer voters than in Sublette County.

Now Stough must look forward to a general election campaign versus Democratic candidate Jim Roscoe.

“I just really feel like we’re going to have a good spirited debate about the issues, many of which we’re fairly close on,” Stough said. “I’ve felt that [the district will] have great representation no matter who wins all along.”

This year’s primary saw an unusually poor turnout.

“Usually about 80 percent of registered voters turnout,” County Clerk Mary Lankford said. “This year we had only about 48 percent.” Sublette County has 3,383 total registered voters. This year 1,626 ballots were turned in despite a large roster of hotly contested races at both the local and national level.

“It was surprising that with all the different races, that the primary didn’t bring more people out,” Lankford said. “There just seemed to be a low interest.”