Republican Jon Costas will have to work with a majority Democrat city council when he returns to the mayor's office. Costas was victorious over Democrat Hannah Trueblood with 58 percent of the vote.
But some of the Republicans running for city council faced a tougher race. In District 3, incumbent Harris Peterson appears to have lost to Democrat Barbara Domer by a margin of five votes. Of the four candidates running for two at-large seats, current mayor Matt Murphy came in last, with Democrats Emilie Hunt and Ellen Kapitan emerging as winners. Democrats Diana Reed and Robert Cotton won their reelection bids, as did Republicans Jack Pupillo and Peter Anderson.
Mayor-elect Costas says working with the new council will be his first order of business. "Clearly, it is a sea change here in the city, and exactly why that happened, one of the reasons for this could be the vote turnout wasn't near as good as it was, even four years ago," Costas told Lakeshore Public Media.
Republican Clerk-Treasurer Holly Taylor was unopposed in her reelection bid.