Republicans claim seats in contested county races

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By Alex Bridges -- abridges@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- Republicans claimed both contested races for seats on the Frederick County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, according to complete, but unofficial, election results.

Local attorney Christopher E. Collins won the Red Bud District seat against two-term School Board member Richard E. Howett.

"I'm really excited," Collins said. "I look forward to doing the things that I promised to do in the campaign: Keep taxes low, try to find new ways of funding our budget so we can avoid any more serious cuts in the budget."

Stonewall District Supervisor Charles S. "Chuck" DeHaven Jr. won a second term, defeating newcomer E. Roy Dixon Jr. DeHaven received 1,779 votes, or 76 percent of the total, compared to Dixon's 23 percent (545), according to the returns.

Shawnee District Supervisor Gene Fisher ran unopposed for a second term, and collected 2,831 votes.

Collins received just 1,726 votes, just under 75 percent of the total votes cast, compared to Howett's 25 percent (581), unofficial results showed.

Howett, 50, and Collins, 38, sought the district currently represented by Philip A. Lemieux. Lemieux dropped out of the election when a job he took created a conflict with U.S. law regulating elected officials working for firms that receive federal grant funding. Lemieux was allowed to serve out the rest of his first term.

Collins noted that he faced the hard task of coming into a campaign in early September but still "pulled out a win."

Howett did not seek re-election to a third term as the Red Bud District representative on the School Board and instead chose to run for the supervisors seat as an independent candidate.

"I think Rick Howett should be commended for his eight years of service on the school board," Collins said, adding that he recently visited Howett and his family.

Calls to Howett's residence for comment were not returned Tuesday.

DeHaven, 57 said he felt "pleased" with the results and honored the voters re-elected him.

"It's a very humbling thing and I just very much appreciate the support and the vote of confidence," DeHaven said. "Re-election is probably the ultimate job review."

DeHaven added that he looked forward to working with Collins on the Board of Supervisors.

"I congratulate Mr. DeHaven for winning the race but it was my first time running for office and I learned a whole lot," said Dixon, 54, who did not rule out running for election in the future. "He's got a big job cut out for him."

According to the board of elections, voter turnout in Frederick County was 38.5 percent on Tuesday.