Republican incumbent wins 62 percent against Goforth as of press time

The 6-foot-7-inch Okawville native may not be able to dunk basketballs any more, but State Senator David Luechtefeld’s victory for his third term was “nothing but net.”

The Republican incumbent defeated Democratic opponent Charles Wayne Goforth of Tamaroa for the 58th district state senate seat with 62 percent of the vote as of press time Tuesday night.

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Goforth, who served in the Navy before becoming a state trooper for 26 years, made his political debut as a Republican during his six-year stay as state representative before his loss to Terry Deering in 1990.

Friends, family and other campaign workers gathered at the VFW in Du Quoin and huddled around the dry erase board at that listed poll numbers from surrounding counties and watched Luechtefeld slowly pull ahead. Early in the night, numbers were rolling in showing that he was ahead by 1,000, then 3,000 and later on more than 9,000.

“The day started around 5 a.m. getting all our poll watchers and volunteers out and just running around from precinct to precinct, making sure we got out the vote,” said Jeanne Queen, election day coordinator of Perry county. “Now we are up here partying and enjoying the win. It’s been a great victory.

“I knew it was going to happen. He’s a great guy and everybody loves him.”

Luechtefeld was first elected to the senate to represent the 58th district in September 1995 after the retirement of Ralf Dunn. The senator has served two terms in congress, and the life-long Okawville resident is ready to embark on a third.

After attending St. Louis University on a baseball and basketball scholarship, Luechtefeld returned to his high school in 1962 and became a teacher and coach. Also during that time, he attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville at nights and on weekends to earn his master’s degree.

Luechtefeld spent much of election day driving around to as many counties as he could, thanking the people who helped him during his campaign. When he arrived in Randolph County, his vehicle had a flat tire, and he changed it as fast as he could before heading to his headquarters.

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He said he was satisfied with the win but was relieved that the campaign was over.

“My whole life has been involved with winning and losing, through college, and then as a high school coach. And you find that the losing is lower than the highs are of winning,” Luechtefeld said.

He said this race was not as difficult as the last two elections. But the real challenges lies ahead with the Democratic governor and Democrat-controlled Senate.

“It will be more difficult to get things done for a Republican because they will set the agenda,” Luechtefeld. “But you have to work through it and get things done.”

Lindsey Mastis contributed to this story.

Reporter Kristina Dailing can be reached at [email protected].