In the race for the Common Council seat from the First District, Democrat Michael Heagerty has won.
He defeated Republican Albert Julian and Conservative candidate Kurt Schmelling.
According to WTVH-TV, with 100 percent of the precincts reporting, Heagerty received 67 percent of the vote, compared to 28 percent for Julian and 5 percent for Schmelling. Unofficial totals show Heagerty received 3,215 votes. Julian received 1,342 votes and Schmelling tallied 222.
As the votes were still being counted earlier in the evening, Heagerty expressed confidence in eventual victory.
“Being out today, being out on the streets the last few weeks, we felt pretty positive.” [Michael Heagerty]
Heagerty spent the evening with about 40 friends, family members, and supporters at The Palace Theatre in Eastwood. The crowd watched eagerly as the results flashed across the historic theater’s 875-square foot movie screen.
At the polls on Tuesday, interviews with voters gave a sense that the race was close. Angela Vigliatti, of Sedgwick, said Heagerty’s history of development made him the right choice for her.
“Everything that he’s been involved in he’s been very conscientious and worked hard at from downtown projects to now projects in the Eastwood area. So it’s all for development of the area.” [Angela Vigliatti]
John Lavalle, a retiree, said Julian’s personality gave him the edge.
“I like his youthful freshness, his willingness to work.” [John Lavalle]
At Heagerty’s election night party, he said win or lose he ran a successful campaign.
“We sat down two weeks ago and said if we lose did we do everything humanly possible. We kind of feel as though we did it all. So at this point we’ve done everything we could do with no regrets.” [Michael Heagerty]
The First District seat became available when Republican Jeff DeFrancisco announced that he was stepping down following this term. It has been held by a Republican since 1995. To recap, according to unofficial results, Michael Heagerty has won the race for Common Council from the First District.
For Democracywise, I’m Jordan Meddy.
(Jordan Meddy is a broadcast journalism graduate student.)
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