Leavenworth Re-elects Mayor, Turns Over a Third of City Council

The highest office at Leavenworth’s City Hall, Mayor, will be held for another four years by Carl Florea who easily won re-election. The City Council saw a shake up with three new members elected. Photo: Caroline Menna

In an off-year for national elections, Chelan County held its general elections on November 7th, certifying them on November 28th. 

As a result, incumbent Leavenworth Mayor Carl Florea will begin another four years in the office after he is sworn in on December 31st. First elected in 2019, after having served on the Leavenworth City Council, its Planning Board, and the Cascade School District Board, Florea was swept back into the mayor’s seat with 59% of the vote. He beat back a challenge from Wenatchee Valley College sociology professor and former Leavenworth city administrator Richard Brinkman. 

While 43% of Chelan County registered voters cast ballots in the election, far outpacing the state average and almost doubling the rate of neighboring Douglas County, County Auditor Skip Moore, whose office is charged with conducting elections in the county, described the turnout as “disappointing.” 

Florea ran on his record, which included guiding the Bavarian-themed city’s tourism-based economy through the pandemic and promised, if re-elected, to address an affordable housing shortage and city streets in disrepair. “We are in a very extreme housing crisis,” stated Florea, who continued: “We are losing the ability to house our workforce at all. I [will] continue to work to address this, including lobbying for a funding stream that we can apply to workforce housing.” As to infrastructure issues, Florea explained that “we have begun steps to put in place a comprehensive approach to our streets and utilities that had suffered through deferred maintenance.”  

Florea will be working with three fresh faces on the City Council: Travis McMaster, who edged out incumbent Marco Aurilio; Rhona Baron, who ousted incumbent Tibor Lak; Shane Thayer, who outpolled Polly McIntyre in a contest for the seat being vacated by Jason Lundgren. Returning Council members Anne Hessburg and Zeke Reister ran unopposed. The seats held by Clint Strand and Sharon Waters were not up for election this cycle.  

In other Upper Wenatchee Valley results, current Cascade School District Board members Judy Derpack and Cynthia Garza ran unopposed for seats two and four. Bruce Williams easily won Hospital District No. 1 Commissioner #2 over Cindy Puckett, as did Gustavo A. Montoya over Duane Goehner for Commissioner #4; Jessica Kendall ran unopposed for Commissioner #1. Ross Frank also ran unopposed for Fire District No. 3 Commissioner #1, as did Tim McElravy and Scott Andrews for Alpine Water District Commissioners #1 and #2, respectively. 

While 43% of Chelan County registered voters cast ballots in the election, far outpacing the state average and almost doubling the rate of neighboring Douglas County, County Auditor Skip Moore, whose office is charged with conducting elections in the county, described the turnout as “disappointing.” 

Moore decried the trend of voters to sit out odd-year elections in Washington. Since 1963, when the State Legislature mandated that Washington’s city and local district elections be held in odd-numbered years, sandwiching them between federal and state races, which occur in even years, state data shows that participation is far lower in odd-year elections than even year elections. According to the Seattle Times, “the median voter turnout has been about 33 percentage points lower in odd years than for elections in even years.” 

In February of this year, State Senator Javier Valdez introduced legislation to allow cities to switch their elections to even years to boost turnout for local contests. The bill did not get to the Senate floor for a vote before the legislative session ended this year. However, Valdez plans to sponsor the legislation again in 2024. State Representative Darya Farivar said she will introduce a companion bill in the House.  

Under the proposed law, cities could choose whether to switch to even years or stick with odd years. Counties are not prohibited by state law from having elections in even years. In fact, the Secretary of State’s Office reports that most Washington counties run their elections in even years. Chelan and Douglas Counties are two of the holdouts, its auditors citing concerns about staffing and the length of ballots should local elections move to even years. 

The full slate of Chelan County election results can be found here: https://www.co.chelan.wa.us/files/elections/documents/election/2023%20Nov%20General%20Official%20Results%20and%20Certification.pdf