Donner looks forward after McHenry Co. Board loss

McHenry County Board member Mary Donner said that if she had invested in election signs and individual mailings ahead of the Republican primary, perhaps she would have won her re-election bid Tuesday.

“Quite possibly those are the things that lost me the election,” said Donner, 61, who has represented District 3 since 2006. “If that’s why I lost, then it’s a different world out there, and I need to make sure I support those who can work with it.”

In the unofficial vote tally, Donner got 2,146 votes, 50 short of newcomer Mary McClellan. Board member Nick Provenzano and newcomers Joseph Gottemoller and Michael Walkup also secured spots on the November ballot.

Among the driving forces behind her first run for county board was her desire to participate in the creation of the McHenry County 2030 Comprehensive Plan, said Donner, of Crystal Lake, who works as a community relations representative for Pace in McHenry County.

Donner said she is proud to have served on a board that helped the county maintain its AAA bond rating. “We are in much better shape than anyone else,” she said.

The work that most matters to her, however, is as liaison to the McHenry County Veterans Assistance Commission and the McHenry County Mental Health Board. “Those two combined are like my soul,” said Donner, who is working on trying to find a larger and better office space for the veterans commission.

Donner said she’s not sure how much longer she would have been able juggle the pressure of her county board post couple with a full-time job. “I thought I’d have another two years,” she said.