Drake and O'Brien win respective primary races for St. Joseph County Council districts

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- In St. Joseph County we've been keeping a close eye on several county council races where some pretty big money has been spent.

Starting first with the race in District B where incumbent Republican Amy Drake defeated challenger Matthew Clayton.

And in District C, Republican incumbent and former St. Joseph County council president, Dan Schaetzle lost in the primary to challenger Jamie O'Brien.

The margin of victory was 451 votes.

The O'Brien-Drake camp took it all, solidifying themselves as the GOP nominees for seats B and C on the council for November's ballot.

O'Brien and Drake both say Tuesday's results say a lot about the future of the GOP on the council after a series of political infightings.

O'Brien said, "If I win in November, and join the council, my priorities will be dependent on whether the Republicans have the majority or not. If we have the majority, then we will implement a lot of the policies that was not able to be implemented over the last two years."

Drake said, "There's been a lot of internal strife in the Republicans, there were some primary opponents put up against some of us in the party and I think this kind of shows that the people that were there were the right people to be there and the people that won tonight are the right people to continue to lead the party."

Both candidates say the campaigns aren't over yet. They'll be just as busy preparing for the November general election to solidify their seats on the council. 

O'Brien will face Democrat Jan Cervelli while Drake will be up against Democrat Ranjan Rohatgi.