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Fite remains county judge |
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Wednesday, 21 May 2008 |
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Saline County Judge Lanny Fite earned a sixth term in office Tuesday night and a new nickname to go with it.  Longtime friend and supporter Travas Parker of Benton, right, congratulates Saline County Judge Lanny Fite for defeating Ann Sanders in the Republican primary race for county judge. (Courier photo by Jillian Duke)
Other county elected officials jokingly said they are calling Fite the godfather of the local Republican Party following his landslide win over challenger Ann Sanders in the preferential primary election.
Fite received 71 percent of the votes, a margin of victory that one election official said is unheard of for an incumbent.
Fite agreed, saying he found the 4,070 to 1,655 margin of victory unexpected.
“The percentage was surprising,” Fite said from his watch party at the Market Street Events Center in Downtown Benton.
“Anytime you’re in office for 10 years, you build up some negatives. I also thought low voter turnout might make a difference, and I am the incumbent. I was expecting something much closer.”
Fite, 57, won re-election in the primary because there is no Democrat oppostion in the November general election.
“This was a learning experience and I met a lot of nice people,” Sanders said.
She said she is not considering another run at political office right now. “I am not a politician,” she said.
Sanders did serve on the Bryant City Council.
Fite, from Benton, said he began to feel more comfortable when he saw the early voting totals, which showed him with an 800-vote lead.
“I had a lot of help in this election,” he said. “You don’t do this alone.”
Now, Fite said, “it’s time to get back to work. There’s long-term water and a lot of other issues I need to work on. You don’t stop working during an election, but you can get sidetracked a little bit.”
He said he looks forward to continuing his working relationship with the Quorum Court.
“We have the best Quorum Court we’ve had in Saline County in a long, long time,” Fite said. “I believe that together, we can continue to accomplish good things for the residents of Saline County.”
Sanders, 45, is president of the Humane Society of Saline County. She plans to retire this year as a management project analyst with the Arkansas Department of Labor, where she has worked for more than 27 years.
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