Monongalia County voters returned Sean Sikora to the Monongalia County Commission for a second six-year term.
The Republican incumbent defeated Democrat Bob Beach 13,964 to 12,206 on Tuesday for the commission’s central district seat.
“I couldn’t be more pleased,” Sikora said.
Sikora said he believes the results reflect support from across the political spectrum.
“That’s really pretty significant against somebody with a 22-year record of getting elected by the citizens of this county. I think the citizens took note of how special this commission is and what we’re doing on their behalf. I think people sat down and voted for who they believed to be the best person, not necessarily a Democrat or Republican,” he said.
Beach, who’s spent the last 22 years in either the West Virginia House of Delegates or Senate, said he is proud of the effort.
“Obviously coming up on the short end of things is never comforting. But we ran clean campaign and that’s what our goal was from day one, just make sure we took the high road, and we did,” Beach said. “I’m just very grateful for my supporters, not just in this campaign but for the past 22 years of public service. So we’ll keep our eyes on the horizon for other things that may come up in the future here.”
Asked how this campaign stacked up against his numerous state races, Beach said he’s afraid the political climate in West Virginia, and particularly in Morgantown, is shifting in line with the divisiveness seen at the national level.
“There were a couple other candidates who I thought would be pretty much a slam dunk who came up short themselves. I just think it’s an unfortunate situation that the climate is going the direction it is,” he said.
Sikora said he is pleased with his campaign, not only that it was entirely self-funded, but that it stayed on task.
“I’m very proud of my team. We really stayed focused. I think there was an attempt, especially at the end, to try to create controversy but we just stayed to business and stayed focused on what I bring to the commission,” Sikora said. “We had none of that on our part.”
With the win, Sikora becomes just the second commissioner to win reelection since 2006. His fellow commissioner, Democrat Tom Bloom, won a second term in 2018 and will be the next to face reelection should he choose to do so in 2024.
Jeff Arnett, a Democrat, defeated incumbent Republican Ed Hawkins in 2020.
In other county races, Democrat Carye Blaney was reelected with 19,470 votes in an uncontested run for Monongalia County Clerk.
Democrat Donna Hidock picked up 18,463 votes in an uncontested race for Monongalia County Circuit Clerk.
All told, 26,742 or 43.27% of the county’s 61,806 voters cast ballots.
All vote totals are unofficial until certified through the canvassing process.
