Kamp narrowly defeats Dix for Division III judge

Judge Gary Kamp narrowly held on to his seat in the Cape Girardeau County Division III court against local lawyer Jeffrey Dix.

Kamp won by about 1 percent.

The incumbent, who has held the position of associate circuit judge for 20 years, received 6,732 votes, or 50.57 percent. Dix received 6,579 votes which equaled 49.43 percent.

"It was a little closer than I really wanted," said Kamp, although he also said he expected it would be a tight race.

Dix previously said he decided to run against the sitting judge to increase efficiency in the court. He cited Kamp's hundreds of annual disqualifications, which meant those cases had to be handled by out-of-county judges who held court only one day per month, as his biggest concern. Dix also said he felt the judge didn't always treat defendants with the respect they deserved.

Kamp has said an ethical complaint has never been filed accusing him of not treating parties fairly and that disqualifications happen to every judge for a number of reasons. He also said he has plans of his own to increase efficiency in Division III. Now that he's been re-elected, Kamp can continue working with state and local officials on a pretrial release program for nonviolent offenders. It would put the offenders on an electronic monitoring system and out of jail, allowing them to go back to their jobs, while their case is being processed.

Kamp said there's still work to be done, but he hopes to see the program in place early next year.

He thanked the voters he met throughout his campaign that took the time to consider his accomplishments in Division III.

"It felt really good to win, obviously," he said. "In my campaign, I gave people a number of reasons to vote for me."

srinehart@semissourian.com

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