Hieftje wins A 2 mayoral race over Rapundalo

By David Enders and Caitlin Nish

Daily Staff Reporters

After eight years of Republican leadership, the city of Ann Arbor will have a Democratic mayor next year. City Councilman John Hieftje defeated Republican Stephen Rapundalo in a landslide victory last night.

Hieftje carried all of Ann Arbor's five wards, and as of 11:50 p.m. had 30,033 votes to Rapundalo's 12,516. Libertarian candidate Charles Goodman had received 1,664 votes.

"I am ecstatic," Hieftje said. "It has been a grass-roots effort. We had people out there on the streets during the summer and all fall. We had a very large number of people that wanted to help us. This is a victory for people in the neighborhoods, because I am a neighborhood person. We now need to do everything we can to live up to their expectations."

Rapundalo was undaunted by the loss in his first run for elected office.

"For me, this is the beginning," Rapundalo said. "This is my first campaign. We knew we were going up against two well-oiled machines - the Democrats and the Sierra Club. I'll see Mr. Hieftje two years from now.

"It was a lot of fun," Rapundalo said. "It was a great learning experience to go for the top job in the first campaign."

A real estate agent, Hieftje's platform included making housing more affordable in Ann Arbor.

"I would think his real estate connections would help as far as reaching the goal of more affordable housing," said University Social Work second-year student Karen Parker, who attended a gathering of local Democratic candidates at Arbor Brewing Company last night.

In addition, Hieftje said he plans to address on-campus housing.

"He's said for a long time now that there needs to be better cooperation between the University and the city," said Bill Hamson, Hieftje's communications manager. "For instance, he has said many times the University needs to build more student housing. I bet as mayor, if he champions that issue, it will be hard for the University not to listen."

"I am delighted, I think he has a good green consciousness - an unusually green consciousness - given that he's a realtor," Ann Arbor resident Tom Fricke said.

Ingrid Sheldon, Ann Arbors' Republican mayor for the past eight years, ran Rapundalo's campaign.

"Looking at the results that are coming in tonight, I'm glad I retired," said Sheldon, who decided not to run for re-election. "You always know Ann Arbor is going to be predominantly Democratic, (as a Republican) it's just whether you can get your message across."

Sheldon said she thought the campaign was run fairly by both sides and the next two years will be challenging for the Democratic majority.

"I think it's going to be difficult for the majority ... realizing that this is a diverse city to have policies that balance all these competing needs," Sheldon said.

Goodman remained focused on his Libertarian platform following the loss.

"People can run their own lives better than the government can run it for them," he said.

Ann Arbor Mayor

Rapundalo GOP 13,948

Goodman Lib. 1,849

As of 2 a.m.

JUSTIN FITZPATRICK/Daily

John Hieftje, Ann Arbor's newly elected Democratic mayor, celebrates his victory at Arbor Brewing Company last night. Hieftje carried all five of the city's wards.