REGIONAL—Incumbent Cook City Council members Jody Bixby and Kim Brunner won re-election to new four-year terms, fending off a challenge from political newcomer Ivette Reing. In the three-way race for two council seats, Bixby received 130 votes, Brunner had 110, and Reing tallied 98.
But there will be a new face on the council in January, as Liza Root narrowly beat out Dave Danz to serve out the final two years of the unexpired term of Karen Hollanitch, who resigned from the council earlier this year. Danz, a former council member, was appointed by Mayor Harold Johnston to fill the seat through the end of the year, but voters gave the nod to Root in the election by a slim two-vote margin, 79-77. A third candidate, Erin Danielson, received 57 votes.
Johnston ran unopposed for mayor and received 204 of the 218 votes cast.
The city of Orr elected Robert “Bob” Antikainen as its new mayor by a wide margin over former city employee Rocky Hoffman. Antikainen garnered 61 votes to Hoffman’s 28, with write-ins collecting 20 ballots.
In the race to fill two city council positions, incumbent Bruce Black topped a field of six candidates with 53 votes. Also elected to the council was runner-up and newcomer Hannah Manick with 46 votes. The other candidates, in order of finish, were Joshua Gaskell, Jim Gray, Ericka Cote, and Sean Luce.