Douglas County residents may not hear a sucking sound, but there’s a giant power vacuum in county offices caused by Tuesday night’s election.

Brought out in high numbers by the presidential election, voters propelled Democrats into the jobs of county clerk, treasurer and district attorney — in each case defeating a Republican with years of experience in the office in favor of someone who’s never worked there. The newly elected leaders say they’ll work for a smooth transition, but Chris Miller, chairman of the Douglas County Republican Party, fears chaos.

“You’ve got inexperienced, unknown people taking over positions about which they know little or nothing,” Miller said. “They will typically bring in a whole legion of political hacks to replace experienced, knowledgeable people. Now, maybe that won’t happen, but if it does, that leads to absolute disaster.”

The offices that changed hands have a combined annual budget of more than $2.6 million and employ 55 people. Here’s a look at the transition picture in each:

District attorney

23 employees; $1.28 million budget.

Democrat Charles Branson, who has been a Eudora city prosecutor but has never prosecuted a jury trial, acknowledges he has a lot of work to do as he prepares to replace veteran Republican Christine Kenney.

A major question is whom he will bring on board to be his assistant prosecutors. All 24 employees in the office, half of whom are prosecutors, can be hand-picked by the district attorney.

Branson said he was willing to consider keeping employees who share his philosophy. But residents should expect a large, if not complete, turnover.

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“You don’t want to just pack the office with your cronies,” Branson said. “We want to bring people in who can get the job done.”

One of the first major challenges when he takes office in January will be handling the case of Kansas State University English professor Thomas E. Murray, who’s charged with killing his ex-wife, Carmin D. Ross. Police and Kenney’s office built the case for nearly a year before filing charges.

Kenney has said she was committed to helping with the transition.

County clerk

10 employees; $585,278 budget.

Clerk-elect Jamie Shew, the vice chairman of the county’s Democratic Party, will get an early crack at achieving his stated goal of finding ways to make elections run more smoothly.

When he’s sworn in as clerk Jan. 10, it will be two weeks from the candidate-filing deadline for countywide school board races and city commission or council races in Lawrence, Baldwin, Eudora and Lecompton.

The primary is March 1 and general election is April 5.

“Maybe there are things that can be done so we’re not up at 1:30 a.m.,” Shew said, referring to the time at which ballot-counting ended Tuesday.

Shew beat out deputy clerk Marni Penrod, who’s worked in the office since 1995, in the contest to replace the retiring Patty Jaimes. Shew said it would be premature to announce any changes in the office.

Eight employees in the office are protected by county personnel policies and can’t be hired or fired at the clerk’s will. But the two deputy clerks, Penrod and Jo Dalquest, don’t have those protections.

County treasurer

19 employees, $749,506 budget.

Treasurer-elect Paula Gilchrist, a Salvation Army administrator, will have more time than Shew and Branson to study her new job. The law provides that a newly elected treasurer doesn’t take office until the October after the election.

Gilchrist has an option of appointing a deputy treasurer, which is something she intends to do. But she said she didn’t know who it would be.

Gilchrist defeated Cindy Monshizadeh, who works as interim deputy treasurer under Pat Wells, who was not seeking re-election. Gilchrist said that the race between the two was friendly and that she didn’t hold any grudges against Monshizadeh.

“I think she’s a pro, and I don’t anticipate any problems working with her,” Gilchrist said.

All employees in the office, including Monshizadeh, are protected by county personnel policies from being hired or fired at the treasurer’s discretion.

— 6News reporter Janet Reid contributed to this report.