A Schor thing: Schor clinches second term as mayor

By about 5,000 votes, Lansing Mayor Andy Schor defeated Councilwoman Kathie Dunbar at the polls Tuesday, garnering about 64% of the city’s vote and securing a second term as Lansing’s mayor. The preliminary tally reported to the Ingham County Clerk’s Office late Tuesday night, with all precincts reporting, was 11,328 votes for Schor and 6,290 votes for Dunbar, with an overall citywide turnout rate of about 21%.

“We’re going to see incredible growth in the next four years,” Schor told a crowd gathered at Lansing Brewing Co. after the results rolled in, also promising to work with regional partners in every section of the city with an eye toward equity to continue to improve the city.

Schor also thanked Dunbar for “a great campaign” and her 16 years of service to the city. Dunbar forewent another term on the Council to run against Schor.

The brewery was a familiar spot for Schor to celebrate the occasion. It’s the same place the former state representative turned mayor hosted a party when he was first elected in 2017. 

In 2017, Schor carried about 72% of the city’s vote, trampling challenger and former at-large City Councilwoman Judi Brown Clarke, who only managed to gather about 28% of the votes. This week’s results show that support for the Schor administration has eroded since his first election but is still very strong. Schor brought in 8,402 votes in the 2017 primary and 12,407 votes at the general election against Clarke. In this year’s primary, he dipped down to 6,191 primary votes, but he regained some momentum with about 11,300 votes Tuesday.

About 12,900 voters decided the results of the August primary election in Lansing, a turnout rate of about 14.8%. This election brought out about 5,100 more voters with a turnout rate of 21% — something Schor attributed to the hard work of his campaign staff at his election night party.

Among those in attendance at Schor’s party: City Councilman Peter Spadafore — who also won his bid for reelection on Tuesday night with 30.5% of the four-candidate at-large vote. Thunderous applause and cheers greeted Schor and Spadafore at the local brewery following their victories. 

Other noteworthy guests included State Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr., State Rep. Sarah Anthony, former State Rep. Sam Singh, Councilwoman Patricia Sptizley, City Attorney Jim Smiertka and Ingham County Commissioner Todd Tennis. Developer Joel Ferguson also stopped by to visit.

Dunbar gathered to watch the results roll in alongside Council candidates Claretta Duckett-Freeman and Oprah Revish at Mikho’s Mediterranean Cuisine on Cedar Street. Like Dunbar, both Duckett-Freeman and Revish were defeated by incumbents this week. And after the results rolled in, all three candidates declined to comment and asked this reporter to leave.

In the August primary election, Schor garnered nearly three times as many votes as Dunbar, securing his advancement to the general election with 6,191 votes to Dunbar’s 2,561 votes. Councilwoman Patricia Spitzley had a competitive third place primary finish with 2,067 votes.

Still, more primary votes were tallied against Schor than in support of his second term — an indication that either Schor’s team was able to convert his former primary foes or that Dunbar’s camp was simply unable to absorb enough anti-Schor votes that were cast for Spitzley or primary challengers Farhan Sheikh-Omar, Melissa Huber or Larry Hutchinson Jr.

Outside of the mayoral race, the incumbent Council members also reigned supreme. In addition to Spadafore’s reelection, voters also opted to keep 2nd Ward Councilman Jeremy Garza and 4th Ward Councilman Brian Jackson around for another term on Tuesday night. They fended off challengers Oprah Revish and Elvin Caldwell with about 68% and 60% of the vote, respectively. 

With Dunbar’s inevitable departure from the Council at the end of the year, voters also selected newcomer Jeffrey Brown to an at-large term. He carried about 24% of the vote, a close second to Spadafore and just enough to defeat other challengers Duckett-Freeman and Rachel Willis.

City Clerk Chris Swope won another term unopposed with a total of 16,435 votes. The five incumbents — and the new Councilman-elect — are set to begin their terms on Jan. 1, 2022.

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