Challenger Matthew Hickey, left, and incumbent Libertyville Mayor Donna Johnson, who was elected Tuesday to a second term in a close race, according to unofficial results.
The race for Libertyville mayor Tuesday was neck and neck most of the evening before Donna Johnson pulled far enough away to make the outcome inevitable to her opponent Trustee Matthew Hickey.
By about 11:30 p.m. Hickey conceded on social media congratulating Johnson on her campaign and strong finish saying that even with ballots outstanding the gap couldn’t be closed.
The final unofficial totals showed Johnson with 2,482 votes to 2,151 for Hickey making it the closest mayoral race in more than 25 years. It was only the third contested race since and other two were lopsided victories by former Mayor Terry Weppler over incumbent and then former Mayor Jeff Harger making Tuesday’s result memorable in its own right.
Johnson, who was elected to the village board in 2007 and served for nine years before that on the plan commission/zoning board of appeals, emphasized her experience, leadership and knowledge of the community.
Hickey, a one-term trustee who opted to try for the top spot will be off the board. He challenged the status quo of village government, citing the need for more collaborative solutions on issues.
Both found an audience but ran different campaigns. Johnson made strategic appearances at events while Hickey emphasized a ground game, knocking on doors in every neighborhood and hosting more than a dozen coffees.
“I’m very, very grateful for the support of the community and their trust in me to serve another four years,” Johnson said Wednesday.
She said her strategy differed from Hickey’s because she was charged with running the village at the same time and that was the priority.
Hickey said Johnson’s campaign lacked specifics on a variety of issues.
“He implied that a lot was broken” in the village, Johnson said. “It wasn’t broken.”
She said key issues will include getting a new police station built, evaluating village facilities and determining how best to deal with a loss of $800,000 when the state grocery tax expires and other potential unfunded state mandates or revenue cuts in light of a projected $3.2 billion state budget deficit.
“They’re going to have to do some things. We just don’t know what those are,” she said.
With that, Johnson plans to schedule town halls and other measures to educate the public on the pros and cons of becoming a home-rule community.
Because it is not home rule, Libertyville is limited in terms of enacting taxes and fees, for example, to raise revenue.
“My goal is to present more information to the public,” she said.
Hickey told supporters the results were incredibly strong and that the campaign won’t end with election night.
They’ll support the mayor and trustees, he added, but also plan to continue to encourage more openness and transparency, better communication and commitment to community-driven planning.
“I don’t think anyone should walk away from this race thinking it was unsuccessful,” he said Wednesday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
