WOODLAND — The initial results in Woodland’s two competitive city council races showed close races for both positions.
Jenn Rowland and Aaron Berghaus were listed on the ballot for City Council Position 6, though Berghaus suspended his campaign. City Councilwoman Janice Graham, who decided not to run for re-election for Position 1 on the council, launched a write-in campaign for Position 6 over the summer.
The initial results show Rowland has received 188 votes between the Cowlitz County and Clark County voters in Woodland, followed by 162 votes for Graham and other write-in candidates and 133 votes for Berghaus.
Rowland grew up in Woodland and returned after graduating from Lower Columbia College in 2019. Graham is the president of the Woodland Chamber of Commerce and was married to former Mayor James Graham.
J.J. Burke held a similarly slight early lead over Keith Bellisle for Position 1 on the Woodland City Council. Burke received 271 votes in the preliminary results, while Bellisle received 230 votes.
Burke is a retired Coast Guard officer who had held Position 1 on the city council between 2001 and 2013 and has been heavily involved with many other community organizations in Woodland. Burke left the council to run for commissioner at the Port of Woodland, though he was not elected.
Bellisle was this year’s president of the Planters Days Planning Committee. This year marks Bellisle’s third campaign for a city council seat. All three of Bellisle’s campaigns were based around increasing community engagement by creating neighborhood associations and increased transparency.
City council members Carol Rounds and Dave Plaza ran unopposed in their re-election campaigns this year and were set for easy victories with more than 95 percent of the initial votes cast in their favor.
Additional election results were released beginning late Wednesday afternoon.
