There will be a new member of the Shelby County Commissioners in 2023.

Republican incumbent Chris Ross, North district, was defeated by challenger Jason Abel, 3,107-1,645, in Tuesday’s primary election.

Abel does not have a Democratic challenger for the seat in the Nov. 8 General Election.

If a challenger is not selected, Abel will join Kevin Nigh (R-Center District) and Don Parker (R-South District) as Shelby County Commissioners.

The Shelby County Council also will have a new representative.

Kyle Barlow defeated incumbent Ben Compton for the Second District seat, 996-506. There is not a Democratic challenger.

Leigh Langkabel (R-District One) and Linda Sanders (R-District Four) will run unopposed in November unless a challenger is named.

In District Three, Republican Brett Haacker, a recent selection to fill the vacant seat, will run against Democrat Michael Daniels.

In the County Recorder race, Jessica Pile (photo, front row, second from left) defeated Christina Asher, 3,042-1,584.

In other contested races Tuesday:

• Greg Pence won the Shelby County voting portion of the Republican primary for District 6 U.S Representative over James Dean Alspach (3,610-1,048). Pence has already been declared the district winner at the time of this publication.
• On the Democratic ballot, Cynthia Wirth received 61% (326) of the vote against George Thomas Holland (204) for the District 6 seat. That race for the nomination to run against Pence is not yet decided as of this publication.
• In the State Representative race for District 47, Robb Greene garnered 47% of the Shelby County vote and was leading John Young (3,455-2,153) with 92% of the overall precincts in the district reporting.
• Melissa Meltzer collected 50.4% of the Shelby County votes for State Representative of District 54, but Cory Criswell captured the nomination with 40% of the district-wide voting. Criswell had 3,419 votes to outdistance Betsy Mills (1,388), Bobbi Plummer (1,005) and Meltzer (977). Criswell received 17.6% of the Shelby County vote.
• Jennifer Meltzer, city attorney for Shelbyville, garnered 1,187 votes to lead Shelby County voting for the newly-created State Representative District 73 seat. Meltzer received 48% of the votes while Bob Carmony was second at 43.83% (1,084). Edward Comstock received 202 votes (8.17%). Meltzer was leading the district-wide voting as of this publication.
• Amanda Tennell defeated Apryl Barger, 183-36, for the Hendricks Township Trustee nomination.
• Ryan Haehl bested Emily Verseman, 162-56, for the Liberty Township Trustee nomination.
• In the Edinburgh Town Council race for two At-Large seats, Marshall Ryan Piercefield (24 votes) and Debra Buck (20 votes) edged out Ryan Blaker (14 votes) and Maryann Gallagher-Little (11) in Shelby County voting.
• The 15 Republican State Convention Delegates are Anne Thurston (2,963 votes), Luke Campbell (2,780), Don Parker (2,756), Kevin Nigh (2,749), James Garrett Jr. (2,721), Linda Sanders (2,664), Ryan Claxton (2,567), Brian Asher (2,537), Scott Asher (2,516), Erin Greene (2,446), Tony Titus (2,436), Brad Ridgeway (2,406), Brooke Stephens (2,231), Jordan Caldwell (2,146) and John Haley (1,950).

July 5 is the deadline for the Democratic and Republican party to select a candidate to fill a vacancy on the general election ballot due to a vacancy resulting from no candidate being nominated at a primary.

The Shelby County voting numbers were as follows:

5,535 total votes (17.95%) were counted from 30,816 registered voters

• 4,207 votes were registered Tuesday
• 160 votes were submitted via paper absentee ballot
• 1,168 votes were walk-in absentee votes