BELLEVILLE – St. Clair County Democrats won nearly all the local races on Nov. 6, but two who ventured beyond the county line plunged to defeat.
Congressional candidate Brendan Kelly captured 55 percent of votes at home, but the rest of the district gave him 41.
Incumbent Mike Bost beat him overall, 52 percent to 45.
Fifth District appellate court candidate Kevin Hoerner captured 58 percent of votes at home, but the rest of the district gave him gave him 37.
Incumbent Justice David Overstreet beat him overall, 59 percent to 41 percent.
Hoerner’s appeal didn’t even extend to Madison County.
Overstreet won with 52 percent, piling up a surplus of almost 6,000 votes.
The farther Kelly and Hoerner reached for votes, the fewer they found.
Kelly failed to win a third of votes in Jefferson, Franklin, and Williamson counties, on the eastern edge of his district.
His neighbors didn’t treat him much better.
Monroe County gave him 36 percent, and Randolph County gave him 35.
Perry County treated him worst of all, at 31 percent.
Kelly found lukewarm support in three spots outside St. Clair County.
The portion of Madison County in his district, about a third of the county’s population, gave him 52 percent.
He broke about even in Alexander County, where he won by 15 votes, and in Jackson County, where he lost by 57 votes.
Hoerner, campaigning to the Indiana border, found territory even more hostile.
Wayne County gave him 15 percent, and Edwards County gave him 17 percent.
He scored 22 percent in Jefferson County, Overstreet’s home.
He scored 23 percent in Effingham and Clay counties, 24 percent in Hamilton County, and 25 percent in White County.
In a block of 15 counties from Lawrenceville on the Wabash River to Nashville on the west and Shelbyville on the north, Hoerner fell short of a fourth.
Those counties, casting more than a fifth of Fifth District votes, cast 71,289 for Overstreet and 23,258 for Hoerner.
Many Randolph County voters chose Bost and switched to Hoerner, giving Hoerner 43 percent where Kelly scored 35.
Likewise in Perry County, Hoerner scored 36 percent and Kelly scored 31.