Albion Town Council primary results

I lost the Albion Town Council primary election by six votes -- which is a greater margin than you might think, when you consider only 14.80% of the 1,399 registered voters showed up to the polls. There were three open positions, and I got the fourth highest number of votes of the eight candidates in both parties. The winners on the Republican side, Chris Magnuson, James Stull, and John Morr, will face off in November against Democrats Dawn Gunder and Stan Strater.

Guess I should have bought a campaign sign or two. Honestly, I think we've done a pretty good job over the last seven years since I was first elected. I also thought that in a town as small as this people would recognize that and not think we needed a change, especially at challenging times like this. From what I've been hearing, part of the problem may be that some stories were being spread around town that aren't exactly true, or at least that aren't complete, but you can't stop stories. Another factor is likely the fact that I've been so busy these last several months that I've been doing a lot of town business by e-mail, or by checking on things and coming around at odd hours, so that people don't see me very often. There could also be some other factor I don't know of, or haven't considered.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't licking my wounds a bit. I never even planned to run for a third term, but it didn't seem like a good time to abandon my responsibilities, with the way things are going in the world. There's also the novel coming out, and the question of whether I shouldn't put more of my energy into my writing (and selling my writing). In theory this could be a good thing for me, and I can hope that I'll make enough through my fiction writing to make up for the (pretty small) loss of income.

But nobody likes to lose, and nobody likes to think that the majority of people in their own town might vote against them. So yeah, it hurts even if it was close. I'll get over it. Life goes on, and Albion's still a great place to live.