Insurgent MickHager ends incumbents’ tenure

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The 4,000 ballots tallied Friday afternoon confirm a solid win by political newcomer Monica MickHager over three-term Port Townsend City Council Member and Mayor Deborah Stinson.

MickHager garnered 58 percent of the vote for City Council position 3, with 2,251 votes over Stinson’s 1,721.

This win however does not make MickHager the new mayor of Port Townsend. The mayor is voted on by members of the City Council so a new mayor will be selected when the Council re-organizes at the start of the new term.

MickHager said it didn’t sink in until Sunday that she had really won.

“I sat down and I was like, ‘I won a seat on city council, so what’s next?’” she said.

MickHager said she thinks a large part of her victory was her message of change as well as her campaign strategy of doorbelling houses. She said she believes she visited 3,000 houses in the months before the election and either spoke with someone or left a handwritten note at every door.

Stinson said with her busy mayoral schedule, doorbelling was not feasible for her and she met with constituents and campaigned in other ways.

MickHager said she usually goes walking or hiking several times a week, but during the campaign those hikes were replaced with doorbelling.

She would go out after work three or four times a week and walk for three hours, usually hitting about 100 houses, 75 if she stopped and chatted with people for longer.

There are about seven weeks between now and when MickHager will take office and Stinson will step down. MickHager said her job has basically already begun, since she will be attending all regular City Council and subcommittee meetings, meeting with constituents, city staff and the other councilors.

She said she understands some of the other council members may not have voted for her but she wants to start off on the right foot with everyone to facilitate open and clear communication.

Stinson said she is disappointed with the outcome of the race because she feels with her experience on the council she has a lot to offer the city in the transition period for new city manager John Mauro. She also said she has developed very good working relationships with regional partners such as the U.S. Navy that will now be lost.

She said these relationships as well as institutional knowledge and continuity on the council will be vital in the coming months.

Former City Council member Catharine Robinson, who served on the council for 16 years and former council member David King who served for eight years and as mayor for four, both echoed this sentiment in letters to the opinion page of The Leader.

MickHager responded by saying she agrees institutional knowledge is important but there are still five of the seven members of council returning, some with extensive experience, such as Michelle Sandoval who has served for 18 years. She also said that change and a fresh perspective are good things and what her campaign has been about.

“City government is citizen government, it’s always changing,” she said. “I’m not a believer in the status quo.”

Stinson said she is worried that some of the issues she was personally championing on the City Council may now fall to the wayside when she leaves office like public safety, economic development and climate change.

From now until when she leaves office Stinson said she is going to do everything she can to ensure a smooth transition with the two new members of the council; MickHager and Owen Rowe who ran unopposed for position 4. She also said passing the city budget is one of her biggest priorities in the coming weeks.

After she leaves, Stinson said there are still opportunities for her to stay involved in community activism adjacent to city government, which she said is what started her political career in the first place. She also said she plans to take a well-deserved break from public life and refocus on her family who she said has taken a backseat during her time on City Council.