‘We Did It’: Center appears to sink Stone for spot on Highland Park City Council
Jon Center in downtown Highland Park. | Photos from Jon Center for City Council
One of the most highly anticipated and fiercely campaigned races in The Record’s coverage area came down to the wire.
Challenger Jonathan Center appears to have ousted incumbent Kim Stone for a seat on Highland Park’s City Council by a thin margin, according to unofficial Lake County election results.
Center holds a narrow lead of approximately 300 votes — 2,353 votes to longtime council member Stone’s 2,038 — with 25 of 25 precincts reporting, per county election data. Candidate Kevin K. Cullather will finish third in the race as he gathered just over 300 votes in the contest.
The unofficial election results include election-date votes, early-voting results and mail-in voting results, according to the Lake County Clerk’s office. Provisional ballots and late-arriving mail-in ballots are not included in the results.
If preliminary election results hold, Center will earn a two-year seat on the City Council. The seat was originally held by Jeff Hoobler and then taken over by Barisa Bruckman after Hoobler’s resignation. Bruckman ran for a full term this cycle, opening up the nonexpiring 2-year term.
“I am so grateful, honored and humbled to be entrusted to represent Highland Park — the community I so dearly love and that I was privileged to grow up in,” Center said in a statement sent to The Record.
He added, “As a parent of young children, CPA with over a decade of experience at the global accounting firm EY, and current small business CFO, I am excited to bring a combination of fresh perspective and critical skills to help revitalize Highland Park today and for the future.”