By: Keith Kappes
Columnist
Carter County Times
By early evening on Tuesday, May 19, the votes will have been counted and the campaign signs will begin to disappear from roadsides and yards. Carter County’s May Primary 2026 will go into the history books.
As is always the case, only one candidate can win each contested race.
For those whose vote totals fall short of the mark, please hold your head up and be proud of the fact that you were able and willing to seek public office.
You, your family members and friends worked hard and you hopefully played by the rules.
Depending on your personal circumstances, you may yet get another opportunity to offer yourself to serve your community.
The old and new political history of our nation is filled with examples of office seekers who went down but rose again to be victorious.
President Abraham Lincoln lost two races for the U.S. Senate in Illinois before being elected twice as the 16th president of our great nation. President Trump won in 2016, lost in 2020 but won again in 2024.
Many candidates say they finish campaigns with more friends than they started with and with a deeper appreciation of the political process.
To those candidates who finish on top, we urge you to be gracious in victory.
To those who will experience the disappointment of loss, I offer these immortal words of President Theodore Roosevelt:
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; ….who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
NOTE – I proudly dedicate this commentary to the memory of my friend, former Carter County Clerk Mike Johnston, who died last month while serving his fifth term in office. He was a winner in every sense of the word.
Contact Keith at keithkappes@gmail.com.
