Incumbent Union County Judge Mike Loftin was re-elected Tuesday during the general election to continue in the position for another term.
Loftin, a Democrat who has been the Union County judge for the past eight years, was running against opponent Cliff Preston.
Winning about 63 percent of the votes, Loftin said he was feeling good about being re-elected on Tuesday night. Loftin won the position with 7,879 votes cast for him.
“I think it went really well,” Loftin said about the campaign. “We tried to run a clean campaign and I’m just thankful for all of the support out there. We had a lot of people that worked really hard and helped us and we’re so thankful for that.”
Preston, a Republican, received about 36 percent of votes, totaling 4,489 votes.
“I feel great. I mean I definitely wanted to win, but I feel like we ran the race that we wanted to and did what we felt like we needed to do,” Preston said. “I think we made a difference in the county already, and that’s what I’ll take away from this campaign.”
Preston is currently serving on the Union County Quorum Court representing District 10, which will be taken over by Donald Brock, who won the seat during the primary election in May.
“I congratulate Judge Loftin and we’re praying that everything continues to get better and better for everybody in the county, and that was our goal,” Preston added.
Loftin said he wanted to continue being the county judge because of his experience in the position and to keep working on the infrastructure of Union County, including the roads and bridges. He also said he wanted to continue economic developmental growth in Union County.
“I would like to tell the people of Union County thank you so much for your support, not only in this election, but over the last eight years,” Loftin said. “I look forward to serving another four years as their county judge.”
Loftin added that he “couldn’t have done it without the support from my wife and my family.”
Kaitlyn Rigdon can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].