Local Election Results

It was a long election night in America Tuesday as numerous races on both the national and local level stretched into the early morning hours. Shortly after 2:30am, Republican nominee Donald Trump clinched the U.S. presidency, receiving a concession call from Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and delivering an acceptance speech from New York City. The Ticker provides an overview of other key election race results, including in Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties.

Congressional/State Races
Republican Jack Bergman claimed a comfortable 55-40 percent victory over Democrat Lon Johnson with 92 percent of precincts reporting for the First Congressional District seat, which was left open following the retirement of U.S. Rep. Dan Benishek. Johnson conceded in an online post, saying: "I just called Jack Bergman to congratulate him on winning the 1st District. I wish him well and want to thank all the voters and my supporters."

On the state level, Republican candidates also claimed the 101st and 104th district seats. With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Republican Curt VanderWall defeated Democrat Dan Scripps by a 54-46 percent margin for the 101st district seat. In the 104th district, Republican Larry Inman bested Democrat Betsy Coffia by a 51-43 percent margin with 100 percent of precincts reporting, with Kelly Clark earning 5 percent of the vote.

Grand Traverse County
After more than a decade on the Grand Traverse County commission, commissioner and chairwoman Christine Maxbauer lost her seat to challenger Tom Mair Tuesday by a 53-46 percent vote. Mair will be joined by another newcomer on the county commission in January, Cheryl Gore Follette, who defeated Thomas Grigal for the district three seat formerly held by Alisa Kroupa. Incumbent commissioners Dan Lathrop, Carol Crawford, Addison "Sonny" Wheelock, Ron Clous and Bob Johnson all retained their seats on the board.

Two key millages in Grand Traverse County earned voter approval by wide margins. The first was a road millage renewal of a 1 mill levy for 2016-2019 to provide funds for the repair and improvement of streets, roads, highways and bridges in Grand Traverse County; that millage passed 70-30 percent. A new .15 mill veterans affair millage for 2017-2022 to provide funds for county Department of Veterans Affairs services also passed by a 70-30 percent margin.

In Traverse City, Proposition 3 - a ballot initiative to amend the city's charter to require a public vote on buildings over 60 feet tall - was approved by voters by a 53-47 percent margin. Propositions 1 and 2, which streamlined city charter rules around ballot petitions, were also approved.

One of the more tightly contested Grand Traverse County races was for trustee seats on Northwestern Michigan College's (NMC's) board, which featured six candidates running for two open seats. As of press time, Michael Estes (23 percent) and Chris Bott (19.5 percent) had claimed those seats, with Rachel Johnson trailing closely behind with 18.5 percent. Three candidates running for three open Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) board seats - Doris Ellery, Jan Geht and Jane Klegman - were all elected to that board.

Leelanau County
The makeup of Leelanau County's new board of commissioners was decided by several close races Tuesday. Commissioner Patricia Soutas-Little defeated Dale Schaub by just 16 votes for the county's district 5 seat. Newcomer Casey Noonan, meanwhile, unseated incumbent Carolyn Rentenbach by only 46 votes for the district 6 seat. Tony Ansorge, Debra Rushton, William Bunek, Ty Wessell, and Melinda Lautner also earned terms on the incoming county commission.

In other contested Leelanau County races, John Gallagher narrowly defeated Jennifer Budd Zywick by just over 200 votes for county treasurer, while Joseph Hubbell handily defeated Jeffrey Slocombe 68-32 percent to retain his position as county prosecuting attorney.