Johnston leading over Wytoski for commissioner seat

Dayton marijuana and nursery stock grower Kit Johnston, running for his first elected office, is leading over Dayton Mayor Beth Wytoski in the race for the seat currently held by County Commissioner Casey Kulla, who did not file for re-election.

In early returns Tuesday, Johnston holds 51.06% of the vote to Wytoski’s 48.94%, a split of 14,139 to 13,550. Recent elections in the county have shown a conservative trend in later reports.

Johnston had the backing of the Yamhill County Republican Party and County Commissioners Mary Starrett and Lindsay Berschuaer, while Wytoski, also a Republican, had a broad bipartisan backing, including from some prominent Democrats such as Nick Kristoff.

Ballot counting will continue for the next week, as ballots mailed up until election day arrive, and ballots deposited in other counties are collected. Although election night typically includes at least two releases, County Clerk Keri Hinton announced on Tuesday that she would have only one, with additional releases to follow on Wednesday. Hinton attributed the delay to the high number of voters turning in ballots on Election Day.