Voters choose Elgin City Council incumbents

Voters selected familiar faces in Elgin as they re-elected all four incumbents to the city council.

Tish Powell, John Steffen, Rose Martinez and Toby Shaw garnered to most votes in unofficial results Tuesday night. Also in the running were challengers Kyle Scifert, Julie Schmidt, Jason Dusenberry, Fred Moulton, Mohammad "Mo" Iqbal, Jaime Hjelm and Andrew Cuming.

Powell was the top-vote getter with 4,061 votes - or an average 16.6 percent of the total vote across Cook and Kane counties - followed by Steffen with 3,866 votes, or 15.8 percent, Martinez with 3,221 votes or 13.1 percent, and Shaw with 2,802 votes or 11.4 percent.

Powell, who was seeking a second term in office, said her priorities are to help guide the city through upcoming budget challenges stemming from the state's fiscal woes, and promoting economic development.

"My strategy was to stick with the issues - talk about my accomplishments, talk about my priorities for this community and run a positive campaign," she said. "There was a lot of negative, partisan, Tea Party active campaign that I think turned off a lot of voters (to the challengers)."

Tuesday's vote is a clear indication that voters are happy with how things are running in Elgin, said Shaw, who was first elected in 2013.

Steffen, who ran for a third term, also touted making fiscally responsible choices. He wants to push for performance-based budgeting. he said.

Martinez was appointed in May to fill the seat vacated by Anna Moeller, now a state representative. She said she wants to represent all residents, make prudent investments and promote the arts in the downtown area.