Mix of victorious incumbents, challenger in Fox Valley board/council races

Election night for village board and city council seats across the Fox Valley saw a mix of victorious incumbents and newcomers, with a cliffhanger in a St. Charles race that had a one-vote margin.

That was according to unofficial vote tallies as of late Tuesday. Ballots postmarked by Tuesday that arrive by April 20 will need to be counted, along with provisional ballots.

Algonquin

In the race for three seats on the Algonquin village board, incumbent Janis Jasper appeared to lose her bid for reelection, while incumbents Laura Brehmer, with 951 votes, and Jerry Glogowski, with 883 votes, retained their seats with all precincts reporting in McHenry and Kane counties.

Newcomer Robert "Bob" Smith received 869 votes. Rounding out the tally was Jasper with 773 votes.

Aurora

Longtime Aurora 7th Ward Alderman Scheketa Hart-Burns had 446 votes, holding off challenger Saul Fultz III, who had 354 votes, with all precincts in Kane and DuPage counties counted.

In Ward 4, incumbent William Donnell defeated John Bell, 701 votes to 304. Donnell has been an alderman since 2013.

In Ward 10, Shweta Baid defeated Arjun S. Nair, 1,316 votes to 666, for the seat held by Judd Lofchie, who did not seek reelection. Lofchie ran unsuccessfully for mayor.

Ron Woerman won the race for the alderman-at-large seat with all precincts in DuPage, Kane, Kendall and Will counties reporting. He had 4,038 votes, to Brooke Shanley's 3,870 and Raymond Hull's 3,343.

The race was contentious as Hull tried to get Woerman kicked off the ballot, saying Woerman didn't really live in Aurora.

Woerman said he is "beyond ecstatic" with his victory. "The citizens of Aurora have spoken, and I'm ready to get to work," he said.

Batavia

In the race for Ward 6 in Batavia, incumbent Nicholas Cerone, who has been on the council 8 years, beat challenger Shaunak Dave. Cerone had 318 votes and Dave had 118 votes. In Ward 7, Sarah Vogelsinger got 85 votes, while Robin Barraza got 63 votes. The winner will replace Alderman Drew McFadden, who did not seek reelection after serving eight years.

Campton Hills

Newcomer Ed Muncie had the highest vote tally with 630 votes in the race for Campton Hills trustee, followed by incumbents Michael Millette with 613 votes, and James McKelvie with 539 votes.

Elgin

Incumbents Corey Dixon and Carol Rauschenberger coasted to reelection for the Elgin City Council, followed by newcomers Steve Thoren and Dustin Good in the race for four open seats.

With all precincts reporting in Kane and Cook counties, Dixon had 2,647 votes and Rauschenberger had 2,645 votes, each earning 14% of the vote. Thoren had 1,976 votes, or 11%, and Good had 1,902 votes, or 10%.

It was a crowded race with 11 candidates, including challengers Karin Jones, who had 1,862 votes, and Anthony Ortiz, who had 1,849 votes, followed by Jodi Perkins, Jerri McCue, Richard Johnson, Rafael Garcia and Marcus Banner. Council members Terry Gavin and Baldemar Lopez did not seek reelection.

Huntley

One incumbent in Huntley, John M. Piwko, appeared to lose his reelection bid with three seats open on the board.

With all precincts reporting in McHenry and Kane counties, incumbents Ronda Goldman and JR Westberg had 1,045 votes and 1,017 votes, respectively, followed by challenger Mary Holzkopf with 882 votes.

Piwko trailed with 871 votes. Challenger Burt Natkins rounded up the count with 759 votes.

South Elgin

All incumbents - Jennifer Barconi, Greg Lieser and John Sweet - appeared to win the race for three open seats in South Elgin.

Barconi had 590 votes, or 61.46%, Lieser had 583 votes, or 60.73%, and Sweet had 426, or 44.38%. Trailing the pack were challenger Shane Hamilton, who also ran unsuccessfully two years ago, and Anthony Ed Metoyer

St. Charles

St. Charles residents will see new representation in four of its five wards.

The only incumbent to win reelection was Ron Silkaitis in Ward 1, who received 295 votes and 61% of the ballots cast. His opponent, Richard Balla Jr. received 189 votes and 39% of the ballots cast

In Ward 2, challenger Ryan Bongard, a member of the St. Charles Zoning Board of Appeals, scored a resounding victory against longtime incumbent Arthur Lemke, who has served since 2013 and previously from 1993 to 2005. Bongard had 546 votes and Lemke had 268.

In Ward 3, Blue Goose CEO Paul Lencioni received 361 votes or 57%, while his opponent, St. Charles City Clerk Chuck Amenta, received 240 votes or 38%. Lencioni will fill the seat vacated by Lucy Gruber, who was appointed to fill the unexpired term of longtime Alderman William Turner.

The Ward 4 contest ended with a result too close to call Tuesday night. A single vote separated Bryan Wirball (402 votes) from John Hoscheit (401 votes). Laurel Moad received 139 votes. Wirball and Hoscheit are looking to fill the city council seat vacated by Lora Vitek, who chose to run for mayor and was the unofficial winner.

Kane County Board member Steve Weber coasted to victory in Ward 5. Weber got 43% of the 658 votes counted. His opponents, Richard Artz and Kim Malay, split the remaining total almost evenly. Weber will fill the seat vacated by Maureen Lewis, who ran for mayor and was defeated by Vitek.

West Dundee

Incumbents Dan Wilbrandt and Cheryl Anderley appeared to retain their seats in West Dundee. Among the three remaining candidates, Cheryl A. Alopogianis appeared to win election. There were three open seats on the board.

Wilbrandt received 717 votes, followed by Anderley with 467 votes and Alopogianis with 423 votes. Newcomers Pamela Carr Hagerman got 367 votes and newcomer Bob E. Sample got 345 votes.