Official results for the Riley County commission District 3 seat will have to wait a couple of weeks due to unofficial results being too close to call.
A difference of 10 votes was reported at the end of the election between Republican candidate John Matta and Democratic candidate Kathryn Focke, with Matta in the lead. Matta was concerned with the results throughout election night as Republicans across the country were losing their seats. KMAN was able to speak to Matta about the results and if he thought this would be a close race.
“It’s hard to know what to expect,” Matta said. “2020 has been a crazy year and with the change in turnout that was coming, I really didn’t have a good feel for things. In my door-to-door and in talking to people, I got very good reaction and had a lot of people say, ‘you’ve got this,’ but I was always a little concerned.”
Focke said her campaign team had a night of up and down emotions while watching the election numbers. She also says she is confident that her campaign can close the margin through ballots that have yet to be counted.
“We were way ahead on the mail-in ballots,” Focke said. “There’s probably a lot of votes for me still outstanding in the mail-in ballots that are coming in that were postmarked today.”
According to Focke, the she began the night in the lead but gradually lost ground as the numbers continued to come in.
The results for this race will not become official until the election canvas takes place on Nov. 16.
