2nd time charm for Antioch's new Mayor Hanson

Longtime Antioch village trustee Larry Hanson appears to have been elected mayor Tuesday night, 16 years after his first bid for the post ended in failure.

Hanson handily beat rival Bob Caulfield, and is also expected to beat 18-year-old write-in candidate Erik Peters, although write-in votes will not be counted until Wednesday.

With all 12 precincts counted, unofficial totals show Hanson with 1,260 votes and Caulfield with 768 votes.

Meanwhile, in the race for the three open trustee seats, incumbent Scott Pierce and newcomers James Jozwiak and Ted Poulos were elected, beating out incumbent trustee Robert McCarty and presumably write-in candidate Dave Dziki.

The unofficial totals show Pierce with 1,405 votes, Jozwiak with 1,276 votes, Poulos with 1,459 votes and McCarty with 1,150 votes.

Hanson, 49, was first elected to the village board in 1989. He lost a campaign for mayor in 1993, but returned to politics six years later, getting elected trustee in 1999, 2003 and 2007.

"I'm really happy and grateful," Hanson said Tuesday night. "Bob ran a clean campaign. We stuck to the issues without mud slinging."

Peters, an 18-year-old Antioch High School student with no political experience, nevertheless was backed by current mayor Dorothy Larson.

Some major issues have divided board members in recent months. The board split over creating a business district for the planned 600,000-square-foot Antioch Marketplace Shopping Center, for instance, and Larson had to cast the deciding vote.

Hanson, meanwhile, said his first priority once he takes office in May will be to grapple with the village's finances.