In a disappointing night for the Coles County Democrats, County Clerk nominee Keith Taylor, Treasurer nominee Kay Pease, and Sheriff nominee Charles “Chub” Conner all lost to their Republican opponents.

Both Conner and Taylor received less than 40 percent of the vote while Pease received 46 percent, losing to her opponent George Edwards by 8 percent.

But it didn’t start out so gloomy for the Democrats.

Even as the initial 13 of the 44 precincts showed that the Republicans had an early lead, those in attendance at the Coles County Democratic headquarters, on Jackson Avenue, were keeping the faith.

“We’re going to pull it out in the clutch,” said Travis Bounds, president of Eastern’s College Democrats.

But as 42 precincts came in, the cheerfulness of the crowd turned to disappointment as they hoped for better results nationally.

Conner explained how difficult it is to win in the heavily Republican Coles County.

“With the very heavy turn-out in Coles County, that usually means the Republican base is surfaced,” he said. “It just look likes the Republican Party did a better job getting the voters out than we did.”

Conner said that his opponent Darrell Cox won a “clear victory” and one of the reasons for the loss was “it’s difficult to get Democrats out to vote.”

He was unable to identify why it is so difficult to get Democrats to vote; saying only “it is just the way it is.”

Paul Wieck, treasurer of the Coles County Democratic Party, elaborated.

“We had highly contested sheriff’s race, in which you had a relative newcomer to the county, a very qualified individual, “Chub” Conner, but he’s (been) a Coles County resident for two years. In local races you will see local voters vote for their neighbors.”

Cox has been a law enforcer in Coles County for 28 years.

Conner said he was done politically, but vows to remain “very active” in the Democratic Party.

Wieck said Pease did “outstanding for her first political campaign,” receiving 46 percent in a predominantly Republican county.

“We had some good candidates, some active campaigning and the party is progressing. That’s always a goal,” Wieck said.

He was particularly excited about how well David Gill, candidate for Congressional District 15, did in Coles County, receiving 45 percent of the vote.

Robin Duncan, sophomore pre-nursing major and a Gill supporter, was also in attendance. She did an internship with Gill last spring semester, making phone calls to all the registered voters who weren’t straight Republican three times a week.

“It looked really good,” Duncan said. “A lot of the issues were in our favor, it was just a matter of name recognition.”

While at the time the results weren’t final and Duncan was still optimistic, Gill eventually lost to Tim Johnson by 16 percent.

What’s next for Duncan, in terms of being a Democratic activist, is seeing who will run for president.

Wieck agreed.

“We have a presidential campaign coming up and everybody will be talking about tomorrow.”