craigdailypress.com

Moffat County Commissioner Tom Mathers had few words to say Tuesday night after receiving the final vote totals in the Republican primary election.

Those totals placed him as Republican county voters’ choice to serve another four years as commissioner.

“That was a nail biter,” Mathers said with a sigh.

Mathers, 61, the incumbent District 3 commissioner, had fallen behind challenger Frank Moe in preliminary vote totals until the final votes were announced about 9:30 p.m.

“My emotions, they were on a roller coaster ride,” he said.

Mathers defeated Moe by 55 votes. He received 1,188 votes, or about 51 percent, to Moe’s 1,133 votes, or about 49 percent.

Mathers used one word to describe how he felt about moving another step closer to his third county commission term — “ecstatic.”

“You know, it is one thing to get elected and do one term because I have done that before,” he said. “But, to get elected and re-elected, makes you feel like you have made some of the right decisions and that people believe what you are doing is right.”

Mathers, who was born and raised in Moffat County, served on the county commission from 1988 to 1992 and was elected again in 2006.

He is poised to be re-elected in November considering no Democratic challengers have stepped forward.

After congratulating other candidates at the courthouse after the final vote total, Mathers said he was headed to his bar in downtown Craig to have a few drinks “that will help this emotion settle down.”

Mathers said he was “very worried” Tuesday morning that he wouldn’t be re-elected.

“I guess what was going through my mind was, ‘What direction do people want to go in?’” he said. “Was it the saying, ‘If they are in office, vote them all out’? That was probably one of my fears was the overall senses of, ‘Let’s vote them all out.’”

But, as the day progressed, Mathers said he became more confident he was going to win.

“But, I thought I would win by a bigger margin than I did,” he said with a laugh.

Moe had few words as he left the courthouse.

“I’m going home to get a good night’s sleep,” he said.