by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The Sumner County and State of Kansas election filing deadline ended Monday and for the most part the local filings were slow. There is only one Sumner County race to choose from on August 5. But a heated race in the U.S. Congressional in the fourth district might be worth the trip to the election booth.

This is unless you are a Democrat which in this case means you probably should stay home since there is nothing to vote on.

Unless there is a write-in candidate, Steve Warner of Belle Plaine will be the lone candidate of the first district. He was the only one to file for office that encompasses much of east Sumner County. There were no Democrat filings.

In the third district, Jason Boyd of South Haven will be challenging incumbent Cliff Bales of Oxford. 

As far as state representatives go, the 79th and 80th Districts will have heated races, at least here locally. That 79th district encompasses much of east Sumner County including Belle Plaine and Oxford.

Incumbent Democrat Ed Trimmer will be facing his third challenge from Republican Larry Alley, who nearly unseated him in 2012. This race, of course, will not be decided until November.

In the 80th District for which a part of south Sumner County including Wellington is a part of, incumbent Kasha Kelley of Arkansas City will be challenged by Andrew Lawson, also of Arkansas City in the Republican primary in August.

In the 116th District, Republican Kyle Hoffman appears to have won another two-year term as he has no challengers.

In the U.S. House District 4, political pundits are salivating over the battle between incumbent Mike Pompeo and Todd Tiahrt in the Republican party. Tiahrt is a former U.S. Representative for this district in the late 1990s.

There are several state races to vote on as well. For the full list, click here. http://www.sos.ks.gov/elections/elections_upcoming_candidate.asp

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