Setting the table in Districts 2, 4

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It’s Monday, so let’s discuss the County Commission incumbents.

Diana Finegan in District 2 and Rebecca Bays in District 4 are well into their re-election campaigns. Both have one opponent each, so far; ballot qualifying is in June.

They are not running as a team. We’ve had that, here and there, two commissioners who line up together, essentially running for re-election on the buddy system. 

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It’s not that Diana and Rebecca disagree or are on opposite sides of the big votes, though there are some of those. I doubt you’ll hear either incumbent say a negative thing about the other on the campaign trail. They’re just not aligned.

Again, not a bad thing. Simply makes for two entirely different County Commission races.

We’re not doing a deep dive on the campaigns today. I did want to suggest the political climate each incumbent finds herself in. The same theme doesn’t cover both districts.

We’ll start out of order, in District 4.

First off, it’s important to note that Bays is campaigning hard right out of the gate. I see her on social media attending numerous community events, and I have little doubt she’s doing quite well in the fundraising department.

Bays is avoiding the Ruthie Schlabach re-election catastrophe from two years ago. Ruthie, up against a seemingly much weaker opponent in Janet Barek, didn’t campaign all that hard, and it showed.

We’ve talked numerous times about the primary voter being a motivated voter. Ruthie won the early votes but lost on Election Day. Her supporters were not motivated to show up at the polls.

Bays is making sure not to repeat her friend’s mistake.

She carries a huge political weight during this campaign. I don’t know how else to say it. The theme for District 4 is direction — where are we going, and how are we getting there?

Bays is the board’s big thinker for roads, taxes, and growth. She waxes philosophically more than any other commissioner. Those happy with the county’s general direction are likely to support Bays. Those who are not, well, I guess we’ll hear from them as the campaign season rolls through.

More than anything, the District 4 race gives us a mechanism to discuss roads, traffic, taxes, and growth in a meaningful dialogue.

The District 2 politics for incumbent Finegan are much more defined.

Go back four years. We were in the middle of President Joe Biden’s term. The Trump factions of Republican committees across the state were splintering from traditional GOPs, and that happened here, too.

Finegan, caught up in that wave, won a closed Republican primary with 57% of the vote.

Four years later, the landscape has changed significantly. Donald Trump is in the White House, and that faction of the county GOP isn’t nearly as boisterous as during Finegan’s first run.

How does that matter? Those Trump Train folks who were solidly in Finegan’s corner…I’m not sure they’re as enthused this year. 

Don’t get me wrong. Finegan has plenty of support. But are they energized?

The theme in District 2 is leadership. Does Finegan prove she’s up for the job?

I've been talking up Diana’s name to dozens of people the last few weeks, and I generally get two types of reactions: negative or indifferent.

Both are difficult to combat. I sat with a Finegan opponent at the Strawberry Festival and told him that Diana’s stock was on the rise.

He looked right at me. “Who says?” he demanded.

Well, I am. She’s handling the board Chair duties very well, and that’s a step in the right direction.

But in a time when the mountain of challenges grows steeper each day, is Diana keeping up? 

That’s what we hope to hear from this incumbent. Why is the county in better condition than it was four years ago, and what specific steps did she take to achieve it?

I like both incumbents. I consider them strong, and at the same time, fallible. Our political backdrop this year: Anything goes.

That’s it for Monday. Enjoy it, friends.

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