Homewood and Flossmoor voters chose to retain their current mayors, according to unofficial election results late Tuesday, April 1.
In Homewood, long-serving Village President Rich Hofeld had nearly 74% of the vote with 100% of precincts reporting. Hofeld was first elected in 1997 and last faced a challenger in 2009.
Challenger Brady Chalmers, a newcomer to Homewood politics who would have been the village’s first Black mayor if elected, had a little more than 26%.
Flossmoor’s incumbent mayor, Michelle Nelson, fended off challenger Joni Bradley-Scott, 54.29% to 45.71% with eight of nine precincts reporting.
The Greater Homewood Party, which has dominated Homewood elections since 1997, took the three four-year term and one two-year term seats on the Board of Trustees. Incumbent Lauren Roman will serve the two-year term. Incumbents Vivian Harris-Jones and Phil Mason, plus newcomer Patrick Siemsen will serve the four-year terms.
They were challenged by members of the new Greener Homewood Party, led by environmental activist Liz Varmecky. The party’s candidates also included Tiffany Cole, Craig Frank and Patrick McAneney.
The Flossmoor Board of Trustees will include two new members, Kevin Dorsey and Carolyn Rodgers, who will join incumbent Gary Daggett on the dais.
No incumbents were running for seats on the Homewood-Flossmoor School District 233 Board of Education. Among the newcomers, it looked like Ariana Leonard, Camille O’Quin and Tamekia Smith, all endorsed by the teacher’s union, would win seats.
Three Homewood School District 153 candidates — Broderick Booth, Becky Popelka and Christine Scully — ran unopposed.
More election results and candidate comments will follow.