Johansen unseats Schwartzenberger for sheriff
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
There will be some big changes coming to McKenzie County following last Tuesday’s General Election vote.
The Nov. 6 election featured several highly-contested races at the county level for county commission, county sheriff and county recorder, as well as several statewide races for the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives and four ballot measures.
In the race for McKenzie County Sheriff, challenger Matt Johansen, a county deputy sheriff, unseated incumbent Gary Schwartzenberger by a 61 to 39 percent vote margin. Johansen garnered 2,496 votes compared to the 1,587 votes received by Schwartzenberger.
The vote by the public to replace Schwartzenberger as sheriff was something that the McKenzie County Board of County Commissioners had attempted to do.
The sheriff’s office, and Schwartzenberger in particular, had been embroiled in controversy ever since he took office in January of 2015 and the county commissioners began calling for his removal.
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