Election night saw a shift of power among candidates up for a vote in La Center, while the majority of council seatholders in Battle Ground maintained their positions.
As of the Nov. 5 count of ballots, all three La Center City Council incumbents were behind challengers in their respective races.
Position 1 incumbent Justin Keeler, who was appointed earlier this year, only had about 38.8% of the vote to challenger Melissa Fox’s lead of about 60.8%.
Position 2 candidate KC Kasberg had 61% of the vote for his race and was in the lead of incumbent Dennis Hill’s roughly 38.5% of the vote.
Position 3 challenger Sean Boyle had 63% of the vote to incumbent Randy Williams’ roughly 36.8%.
Following the first few counts of numbers, Kasberg, who led in the primary election, said the results were not completely surprising.
“I was hoping to see very similar results as the primary (election) had and it looks like that’s basically what was happening,” Kasberg said.
He leads Hill, who was appointed in 2020 to fill a vacant seat.
Kasberg said he believes the city’s voters made it clear they want to see change in governance.
“I think we can make a difference,” Kasberg said. “The intent is to restore confidence and responsibility to the council, because the citizens are just tired of the way things have been going.”
Though defeated, Kasberg expressed respect to the outgoing councilors.
“There would have been no hard feelings had things gone the other way,” Kasberg said.
One Battle Ground City Council incumbent trailed behind their challenger in the preliminary election results out of four competitive races in the city.
As of Nov. 5, position 1 challenger Troy McCoy had about 53.7% of the vote, to incumbent Brian Munson’s roughly 45.9%.
Position 4 incumbent Adrian Cortes was in the lead for his race with about 57.3% of the vote to challenger Josh VanGelder’s roughly 42.2%.
Recently appointed position 5 seatholder Tricia Davis led that seat’s race with about 52.4% of votes to challenger Neil Butler’s roughly 47.1%.
Position 6 incumbent Cherish DesRochers had about 62.8% of votes, while challenger Josie Calderon had about 36.2%.
In Ridgefield, the only competitive race shows a strong lead for the incumbent.
Current Ridgefield City Council Position 6 seatholder Jennifer Lindsay had about 75.7% of the vote to challenger Ken Spurlock’s roughly 23.6%.
Woodland City Council’s two competitive races show a former councilor poised for a return and a write-in campaign against one council hopeful falling short as of Nov. 5.
For position 1, J.J. Burke led with about 58.3% of the vote, against Keith Bellisle’s 41.3%. Burke previously served on the council from 2002 to 2014.
Position 6 candidate Jenn Rowland had a slight lead over write-in ballots with 403 votes or about 36.5% as of Nov. 5. Though specifics on who garnered write-in votes was not available, current position 1 councilor Janice Graham previously announced her write-in campaign against Rowland. Write-ins made up 347 votes, or about 31.5% of the vote. Candidate Aaron Berghaus, who suspended his campaign, took 353 votes as of Nov. 5, or about 32% of the vote.
In Yacolt, the incumbent for the one competitive race for town council was in the lead as of last week’s most up to date counts.
Appointed position 3 seatholder Joshua Beck led with about 69.5% of the vote, while challenger — and current council position 4 councilor — Ronald Homola had 30%.
