Belvidere Mayor Mike Chamberlain wins tight primary race, on the April ballot
February 23, 2021 9:05 pmAndrew CarriganPOLITICAL, TOP STORIES
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BELVIDERE (WREX) — The incumbent Mayor of Belvidere will once again appear on the April ballot after narrowly defeating his challenger in Tuesday night's primary election.
Incumbent Mayor Mike Chamberlain had a challenger in Jeffrey Carlisle on the Republican ticket.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Mayor Chamberlain had 512 votes to Carlisle's 494 — winning by just 18 votes.
"I think a lot of people expected me to win easily and I certainly did not; and the weather was even good," Chamberlain told 13 News on Tuesday evening. "I think things are a lot different, they are different in the world right now, and I'm just fortunate I was able to win this election."
According to the Boone County Clerk's Office, 1,014 ballots were cast of the 14,171 registered voters in the county. Eight people left their ballots blank for the mayoral race. Chamberlain says he and his campaign team will use the weeks leading up to the April election to try to rally higher voter turnout.
"We will address doing a couple of things depending on where things go weather-wise and where the Covid thing goes in the next couple of weeks. We will certainly huddle and see how we can get a better turnout for the next election," he said.
Chamberlain is seeking re-election to a third term as Belvidere's mayor. He says he's proud to run on his record over the past 8 years.
"I am happy to run on my record. We have a lot of good success with partnerships in this community to move Belvidere ahead in many, many ways in the last 8 years. So I'll just continue to do what I do, and continue to campaign, and we'll see what happens April 6th."
Chamberlain will face independent candidate and former City Council member Clinton Morris in the April 6 general election.
Andrew Carrigan
Andy Carrigan is the Social Media & Digital Content Manager at WREX. He joined the 13 WREX team as a photographer in 2016 after graduating from Northern Illinois University
Above is from: https://wrex.com/2021/02/23/belvidere-mayor-mike-chamberlin-wins-tight-primary-race-on-the-april-ballot/
