Slatter, Chelminiak hold narrow leads in council election

*Updated Thursday, 11/5 at 4:30 p.m.*

An extremely tight race for Bellevue City Council Position 5 between Vandana Slatter and Michelle Hilhorst may not be decided for days, as ballots trickle in.

Slatter was leading, but the candidates were separated by less than 300 votes as of Thursday night as the two vied for the lone open spot on the city council.

Slatter was pleased with her initial lead but recognized later returns could change things.

“I am thrilled to be in first place and have faith that the voice of the voters will hold this result,” she said. “Great government is all about a shared dialogue with all voices in our community. This is what our campaign has been about, and in the past months we have been energized talking with voters and listening to their concerns and ideas about their neighborhoods. I look forward to continuing that conversation on city council.”

Hilhorst remained confident in her campaign.

“I’m still optimistic,” she said. “I came back really strong from a 3,000 vote deficit in the primaries, and I hope my hard work will pay off. I just know when I was knocking on doors, a lot of voters were waiting to send in their ballots. I think we’ll know a lot more by Friday.”

Slatter was hoping to provide a new point of view on the council, while Hilhorst thought her civic experience made her a superior candidate.

• In the Position 3 race, incumbent and three-time city councilman John Chelminiak holds a 550 vote lead over Don Davidson, Bellevue’s former mayor and longtime council member.

While council races are supposedly non-partisan, this race comes down to the conservative Davidson or the moderate Chelminiak.

“Votes by mail take a long while to get the votes counted,” Chelminiak said. “And it’s been a close race. Don ran a very good campaign and I’m happy with the campaign we ran.”

The incumbent knew some citizens, particularly those opposed to the Puget Sound Energy proposal, contributed heavily to his opponent.

“And people love the amenities that downtown brings, but not the traffic from construction which makes navigating downtown so difficult,” Chelminiak said. “But I hope at the end I will still be on the city council and representing those who voted for me and those who didn’t.”

Those two races will likely go a long way in determining what political direction the council takes in coming years.

• In the third contested race, incumbent Jennifer Robertson holds a commanding lead over reformer Lyndon Heywood with 82 percent of the vote to Heywood’s 18 percent.

“I’m feeling very grateful to the voters,” said Robertson, who is seeking her third term. “Most people in Bellevue enjoy the high quality of life, and I think my message wanting to keep it that way resonated with them.”

Robertson based her platform on improving transit options in the city, improving neighborhoods with parks and public spaces and providing affordable housing to the community.

• Incumbent John Stokes was running unopposed for Position 1. He secured more than 98 percent of the vote.

Wednesday night results:

City Council Position 1:

John Stokes: 98.85% – 12,728

Write-in: 1.2% – 148

City Council Position 3

John Chelminiak: 51.59% – 8,725

Don Davidson: 48.26% – 8,162

City Council Position 5

Vandana Slatter: 50.75% – 8,473

Michelle Hilhorst: 48.99% – 8,179

City Council Position 7