EVERETT — It will be the same group of seven on the Everett City Council if early election results hold up.
Of the four contested seats, all the incumbents — Shannon Affholter, Ron Gipson, Drew Nielsen and Brenda Stonecipher — were winning their races after the first round of election results were released Tuesday night.
With only about half the ballots counted countywide, it’s still early to claim certain victory. The county elections office intends to release new totals daily as more votes are counted and it wasn’t clear on election night how many Everett ballots were outstanding.
It would take quite a turnaround for Gipson to lose what would be his fifth term. He was leading challenger June Robinson with 59 percent of the votes.
Council President Affholter was well ahead of opponent Jackie Minchew, a music teacher who wanted to raise awareness about declining fuel supplies and global climate change. Affholter had 7,423 of the 11,004 counted so far.
Council Members Nielsen and Stonecipher both captured 52 percent of the vote. That puts Nielsen ahead of retired airline pilot Erv Hoglund, a self-described fiscal conservative, and Stonecipher ahead of her opponent, Scott Bader, who also advocated careful government spending.
Although the seats are nonpartisan, candidates with similar political leanings appeared to band together. Newcomer Robinson, who said she wanted to balance growth with maintaining city parks and open space, did some of her campaigning with Nielsen and Stonecipher.
Affholter, Hoglund, Bader and Gipson garnered money and endorsements from unions and business leaders. Both Bader and Hoglund told voters they wanted the city focused on fiscal responsibility and little else.
Nielsen said Tuesday night he thinks voters probably view both him and Stonecipher as having concerns beyond fiscal prudence. “They want people to be prudent with their money,” he said, “but they also want to live in a nice place.”
Stonecipher agreed.
“It does feel good,” she said. “There were moments when I was worried. I had faith people appreciate the work I’m doing. I hear from enough people, and they know I’m asking tough questions.”
Mayor Ray Stephanson had endorsed Hoglund, Affholter and Gipson. He said he was not taking a position in the Stonecipher-Bader race but noted former Mayor Ed Hanson was behind Bader.
Bader, an attorney now employed by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle, also said he wanted to speak up for people living in South Everett.
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