Kelly returned to Naperville council, joined by McBroom and Longenbaugh; Wilson holds lead for 4th seat
Incumbent Patrick Kelly said he’s grateful voters reelected him to a second four-year term on the Naperville City Council.
He was the top vote-getter this week in a crowded field of 11 candidates, garnering 13% of the vote, followed by newcomers Allison Longenbaugh, a Naperville Public Library Board member who also received 13%, and Josh McBroom, a former Naperville Park Board commissioner who received 12%, unofficial election results show.
The fourth winner of a four-year term remains up in the air. Nathan “Nate” Wilson and Meghna Bansal both received 10% of the vote — Wilson topping Bansal by just 74 votes at this point.
There are still votes to be counted that could make a difference, including mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day but are postmarked Tuesday and provisional ballots. They will be tallied April 18 and all the votes canvassed April 25.
The rest of the field — Nag Jaiswal, Ashfaq Syed, Rebecca Malotki-Meslin, Jodi Trendler, Ashley South and Madhu Uppal — received 9% or less of the votes cast.
Wilson said he’s “cautiously optimistic” his lead will hold.
“I finished strong and am hoping that trend continues,” he said.
Kelly said the council will look very different when the new mayor, Scott Wehrli, and three new council members are seated.
As to what to expect in the coming four years, Kelly said it’s impossible to know. When he was first elected in 2019, he could never have imagined some of the issues the city ended up facing or the COVID-19 pandemic and the effect it had on the city’s budget.
“Who knows what will happen in the next four years,” he said.
Longenbaugh said this election was very different from the roller-coaster ride of 2019, her first attempt at winning a council seat. That year, the numbers went up and down, she said.
“And then to finally finish and be down by 57 (votes), I mean, it was a gut punch,” she said.
Although it was hard to recover from that, Longenbaugh said she didn’t stop. “I stayed involved,” she said.
“I truly love going to City Council meetings, and I think that’s what showed. I think people could see that I’m enthusiastic about it,” Longenbaugh said.
Even the boring stuff?
“I’m not bored by it ... I bring that to the table, and I think people respond to that,” she said.
Because the race is nonpartisan, she believes her enthusiasm is what what made people excited about voting for her, she said.
“I am going to represent you, I’m going to listen to you, and I’m going to be excited about it,” Longenbaugh said.
McBroom said he felt confident going into Tuesday’s election that his base support was strong enough to push him to victory.
“But you never know. I mean, nothing’s a guarantee so I went into (Tuesday) night just saying, ‘Hey, if I lose, it’s been a great experience and no regrets,” he said.
Now he’s excited and looking forward to this next challenge, he said.
Being involved in local government through the park board was a good place to start, McBroom said.
“But clearly the city is a heavier lift than the park district, and fortunately I already have a lot of relationships with the city staff and with people on the city council,” he said.
His goal is to keep Naperville one of the greatest towns in the country and to bring the community together, even if that means respectfully disagreeing with people on occasion, he said.
“The city’s a different animal, and there’s gonna be a lot to learn,” McBroom said.
