Naperville City Council Election; Winners, Losers, And Surprises

Vote totals are not official and have not been certified, however unless ballots are discovered under a table somewhere and yet to be counted, election results are ready to be cast in stone. Final vote totals should be available by April 13th.

So who were the big winners in Naperville’s city council election? If you said the top four vote-getters, Ian Holzhauer, Benny White, Paul Leong, and Jennifer Bruzan Taylor, you would be wrong. The big winners are the good folks of Naperville, the residents and businesses.

‘Why’, you ask. That’s easy. Two of the three weakest links on Naperville’s city council will be gone within days. John Krummen and Judy Brodhead will become footnotes in Naperville history, soon to be forgotten. Krummen was booted out by the voters, and Brodhead was booted out by term limits. Years ago residents voted for term limits, and now Brodhead is the first to be ousted by voters who approved term limits. If it wasn’t for term limits, Brodhead would have hung around like month-old potato salad on a hot August day.

Not only did Krummen miss one of the top four positions voted-in, he would have missed if the top six vote-getters were elected because he finished in 7th place out of 11 candidates. As an incumbent, it’s not easy losing an election, it comes down to name recognition vs. credibility/accomplishment, where name recognition usually wins, but not in Krummen’s case. His advocacy, as the mouthpiece for Smart (electric) meters resulting in forced installation and leading to handcuffing and arresting residents, didn’t help his campaign, and likely doomed his fate. Krummen may have had his sight fixed on a mayoral campaign in two years, however if he still does, it will need to be in another city, not Naperville.

Surprises in this year’s election included:

• Ian Holzhauer, not that he was elected, but that he was the top vote-getter edging out second-place finisher, incumbent Benny White.
• Paul Leong, not only did he get elected, but he came in with a strong 3rd place finish.
• The biggest surprise is that Jennifer Bruzan Taylor came in last place of the four elected, in spite of marketing herself almost as much as Donald Trump. Additionally she was sitting in 6th place when Watchdog turned out the lights, but by morning she had sealed the election coming in 4th place. It felt a little like the State of Georgia when something happened over night.
• Allison Longenbaugh had the unenviable ‘honor’ of a 5th place finish meaning she was the best loser of the bunch. There is still a long-shot chance she could surpass Taylor for 4th place. The vote difference is less than 400 votes.

The downside to this year’s election is that councilman Kevin Coyne decided not to run for re-election. Coyne is the pragmatic voice of common sense on the council. Those in support of councilman Coyne can only hope that he may re-appear as a mayoral candidate in 2023.