By Shereen Siewert
The three-way race for Wausau mayor is down to two and all but two Wausau City Council seats are contested in the spring 2020 election, according to Deputy City Clerk Mary Goede.
Christopher Norfleet, who announced in May his intention to run for mayor, filed all paperwork Tuesday to challenge Pat Peckham in District 1. But Norfleet did not submit final paperwork to run for the mayoral seat, which will now be a two-way race between current mayor Robert Mielke and challenger Katie Rosenberg.
Longtime Dist. 3 council member David Nutting will also have a challenger. Tom Kilian, who has long been at the forefront of environmental issues in Wausau and is a frequent spokesman for Citizens for a Clean Wausau, submitted campaign paperwork Tuesday and will seek the Dist. 3 seat.
Becky McElhaney, in Dist. 6, and Dawn Herbst, in Dist. 9, are the only two council members to remain unopposed in the April 7 election.
Current Dist. 10 Alder Mary Thao announced earlier in December she would not seek another term for the seat, representing a swath of the city’s west side. As of 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, three candidates have filed paperwork, which will force a primary: Donna Krause, Lou Larson and former Dist. 10 council member Sherry Abitz.
The Feb. 18 primary will narrow the field from three candidates to two in Dist. 10.
Here’s how the Wausau City Council election slate stands:
Dist. 1:
Pat Peckham (incumbent)
Christopher Norfleet
Dist. 2:
Michael Martens (incumbent)
Tiffany Rodriguez-Lee
Dist. 3:
David Nutting (incumbent)
Tom Kilian
Dist. 4:
Tom Neal (incumbent)
Judith Miller
Dist. 5:
Jim Wadzinski
Joel Lewis
Dist. 6:
Becky McElhaney (incumbent)
Dist. 7:
Lisa Rasmussen (incumbent)
Tracy Wheatley
Dist. 8:
Linda Lawrence (incumbent)
Sarah Watson
Dist. 9:
Dawn Herbst (incumbent)
Dist. 10:
Sherry Abitz
Donna Krause
Lou Larson
Dist. 11:
Debra Ryan
Patrick Bacher
Wausau Pilot and Review will reach out to surrounding municipalities on Wednesday and to Marathon County for updates on other local elections.
