The November 3 midterm elections saw Grand Rapids voters decide three critical races for nonpartisan positions in City Hall.

The positions up for grabs were two City Commission seats representing the First and Second Wards and the city comptroller. The results are unofficial, but each winning candidate is expected to take office in January.

First Ward Commissioner – Lindsey Perez-Plescher

Perez-Plescher will join Commissioner AliciaMarie Belchak in representing the First Ward, bringing the commission back to full representation after the second of two First Ward seats went vacant for months. She earned 65% of the vote.

Former First Ward Commissioner Drew Robbins left his seat voluntarily in February to launch his campaign for state House. He lost his election to represent Michigan’s 84th state House district to Democrat Khristian Silvis.

Perez-Plescher was originally a finalist to join the commission through an appointment process to fill Robbins’s vacancy, though the vote became deadlocked and the commissioners decided to wait until the election to fill the seat. 

Perez-Plescher reported raising $28,750 and spending $22,809.94 in her campaign finance reports. Her largest contributors included the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters PAC at $5,000, the Kent County Democratic Party at $3,250, and the Grand Rapids Firefighters Union PAC at $3,000. 

Despite running for a nonpartisan seat, Perez-Plescher was openly endorsed by the Kent County Democratic Party and Young Democrats of Michigan. She also boasted the endorsement of state Rep. Stephen Wooden, an elected Democrat, and several Democratic Kent County Commissioners.

Perez-Plescher’s campaign donation site was run through ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s primary crowdfunding tool. 

Second Ward Commissioner – Lisa Knight

Knight hung on to her Second Ward seat on the City Commission by fending off a well-funded campaign by challenger Bryan Cody. She earned 59% of the vote.

Cody ran the most expensive city campaign on the ballot, bringing in three-and-a-half times as much money as Knight and spending roughly four times as much. He reported the largest fundraising total of the six candidates running for city offices with $48,419.31 raised and $46,726.31 in expenses.

Knight reported just $13,593.95 in receipts and $10,787.16 in expenditures. 

While the City Commission is nonpartisan, Knight has openly associated with the Democratic Party, such as when she promoted an event on the Kent County Dems website in May. That promotion included a link to her campaign donation site. 

The commissioner also appears to have spoken at Kent County Democratic Party events in the past. Knight issued an endorsement for Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and spoke at his rally in Grand Rapids ahead of the primaries. 

Knight also received an endorsement from Abbie Groff-Blazak, who won her race for state Senate on the Democratic ticket.

Knight claimed in September that Mayor David LaGrand was privately supporting Cody. She attributed her souring relationship with the mayor to repeated disagreements on the commission.

“I’ve been vocal about things that I don’t agree with, and that was out of the gate of this mayor’s tenure,” Knight said. “I don’t think he cared for that, and that’s OK. You have to be big enough to know that it doesn’t always go your way.”

Comptroller – Dave Bulkowski

Former Kent County Commissioner Dave Bulkowski upset incumbent comptroller Max Frantz in an election with major implications for the future of the office. He earned 56% of the vote.

Bulkowski had touted Democratic backing and even said publicly that he was handpicked by LaGrand and former Mayor Rosalynn Bliss to oppose Frantz. Two former city comptrollers came out in support of Frantz in his race, claiming that Bulkowski would bring needless partisan headwinds to the nonpartisan office. 

Bulkowski reported $12,980 in total receipts and $12,320.72 in total expenditures in his campaign. His largest single contribution came from the Kent County Democratic Party, which gave him $3,750, accounting for nearly 29% of his receipts.

Bulkowski was endorsed by several current and former Democratic members of the Kent County Commission, including Melissa LaGrand, wife of Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand.

Frantz’s campaign against Bulkowski largely surrounded his lawsuit with the city over its decision to restructure and downsize his office. He claims in a lawsuit against the city that decision violated the City Charter.

Frantz will go before the Kent County circuit court later this month to give oral arguments in his case. If a judge were to side with Frantz, it could see the comptroller’s office undergo another restructure to reverse the restructure.

Write to jackson@grherald.com