MORGANTOWN – The Monongalia County Commission’s Eastern District will have a new representative come 2027 as Julie Knight knocked off incumbent Jeff Arnett in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Knight, a political newcomer, led from the start and ended up collecting 4,443 votes to Arnett’s 2,792 to set up a November showdown with Ron Lytle, who garnered 2,870 votes in an uncontested bid for the Republican nomination.
“Really, I’m going to tell you, I’m very shocked. This was a little bit unexpected. No one ever runs a campaign to lose, but I’ll admit I wasn’t necessarily expecting to win this race,” Knight said, explaining she was not initially following the results Tuesday evening.
“When I finally got on and saw I was in the lead, it was an immense surprise, and I felt honored. I didn’t have a lot of donors. I didn’t have a very big campaign staff. I was doing a lot of the stuff on my own.”
Arnett, who was seeking his second six-year term on the commission, said he, too, was caught off guard by the outcome.
“To say I’m in shock is an understatement. I had no idea that would happen,” he said. “But the voters do what the voters do, and they have spoken. There’s not really a lot to say. I didn’t just get beat, I got beaten fairly soundly.”
Lytle, whose 12-year run on the Monongalia County Board of Education ended following the 2024 primary election, said he’s been keeping a low profile in the county commission race – not only because he was running unopposed, but because he wanted as much focus as possible on the BOE levy, which passed overwhelmingly.
“But it’s time to get busy now,” he said. “Looking forward, we’re going to get after it and get out and talk to people. Sitting in my position, I understand the problems that I see, but getting out there and trying to get a little bit more educated on the things county residents are dealing with on a daily basis is important.”
Asked about his motivation to enter the commission race, Lytle said he wants to help create more consensus among local leadership.
“I just want to be someone who can get us speaking with a common voice. A lot of the challenges that this county faces come from the state level. The fact is we don’t speak with a common voice a lot of times about what we want, and we just don’t work close enough with the delegation in Charleston to get the focus on what we want as a community.”
Knight credits the time she invested meeting and speaking with members of the community for Tuesday night’s outcome. She said she intends to more of that heading into November.
“What I found was that people were sort of desperate for that type of interaction and for that type of communication. A lot of people don’t know what the county commission does, and they don’t know the county commission can help so they feel unhelped all the time. So there was a side of me that knew I was gaining a little bit of traction, even though I didn’t have a lot of money, and I didn’t have a lot of signs everywhere and a lot of advertisements, I knew I was making a difference with the people I was speaking with,” Knight said. “I knew I was resonating with people, but I didn’t realize I was resonating that much. What an honor. I’m very excited and I’m so thankful for the people who voted for me.”
All results are unofficial until certified through the canvassing process.
