JACKSON, Mich. — Jackson County Commissioner Daniel Mahoney and retired corrections officer John Wilson are on track to face each other in the Jackson mayor's race in November.
With 28 out of 29 precincts reporting, Mahoney led the field of four candidates with 972 votes. Wilson got 581 votes. City Council members Laura Dwyer-Schlecte and Jeromy Alexander got 454 and 248 votes respectively.
It was all smiles at Mahoney's watch party.
“We didn’t come here to lose," Mahoney said. "You know my first thought coming into this was that I'm going to put the work in as necessary for me to get to the next phase. You know I look at this as kind of two legs of a race. primary getting through the primary re calibrate reset and get ready for the general election so now that we've made it through that that's exactly what we’re going to do.”
Mahoney was backed by current Mayor Derek Dobies, who is not seeking reelection.
Wilson, who has run for mayor twice before, said the campaign has "been a lot of anxiety."
He also said he's "had a good feeling throughout the day, well throughout the campaign, that I would make it in the number one or number two spot. It involved lots and lots of work, because I had good competition out there with the other three candidates, and we all worked very very hard.”
Fewer than 2,300 votes had been tallied as of Tuesday night, less than 10 percent of the registered voters in Jackson.
"We're seeing kind of a typical August primary election play out," said Aaron Dimick, the city's public information officer. "The thing that we can't mistake is a huge increase in people voting absentee. So, in 2019, the last time that we had a primary for the mayor, we had around 600 requests for absentee ballots. Two years later in August of 2021, we have around 1,500."
Both Wilson and Mahoney say they're going to take a day to recalibrate before continuing their campaigns.
Want to see more local news? Visit the FOX47News Website.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox.
Select from these options: Breaking News, Severe Weather, School Closings, Daily Headlines, and Daily Forecasts.
