Paul Taylor unseated incumbent County Commissioner Jim Surkamp in the Democratic primary election, and will face Republican Walt Pellish in the general election. Incumbent Del. John Doyle, D-Jefferson, will face Republican Elliot Simon in the general election for West Virginia’s 57th District seat in the House of Delegates.

Taylor won nearly 41 percent of the vote with 1,280 votes. Surkamp took over 29 percent of the vote with 926 votes, besting the third Democratic challenger, Ruth McQuade, by only two votes. Walt Pellsh, set to be Taylor’s Republican opponent in the general election, was unopposed in his primary election, yet still garnered 1,031 votes.

Doyle defeated his Democratic primary opponent Lori Rea by a wide margin, winning over 64 percent of Democratic voters in the 57th district with 1070 votes to Rea’s 586. Doyle goes on to face Republican challenger Elliot Simon who won his primary race against Donny Jones, a 19-year-old Shepherd University freshman from Jackson County. Simon won nearly 65 percent of Republican voters in the 57th district, besting Jones 373 votes to 203.

Countywide, only 11 percent of Jefferson County’s 34,000 registered voters took part in the primary election. Democrats cast 2,643 votes, Republicans cast 1,150 votes, 64 people cast nonpartisan ballots. Full analysis of election results will appear in this week’s Shepherdstown Chronicle.