Split Ticket In Eureka With Jager, Atkins Triumphant

Balance of power on City Council remains in place

Humboldt Sentinel
11/4/08
By Sentinel Staff

EUREKA -- Despite the noticeably partisan split between Democrat and Republican slates for two seats on the City Council, Eureka voters split these tickets cleanly apart, choosing retired transportation administrator and Democrat Party member Linda Atkins for the Second Ward spot, while siding with county coroner and former councilmember Frank Jager in the Fourth Ward.

Atkins had run a joint campaign with former restaurateur George Clark in an attempt to establish a Democrat majority on the City Council for the first time in modern history, but it appears voters had very different takes on the two. Atkins appears to be the victor on election night with 4,356 votes or 53% against Republican Party member and appointed incumbent Polly Endert with 3,835 votes or 46.6%, a remaining 0.4% of votes siding with imaginary write-in candidates. Jager's results were more decisive, with 5,253 votes or 63% siding with him as opposed to 3,080 votes or 36.9% to Clark and all of 11 write-ins.

The results switch around the perceived partisan leanings of the two seats, as the Fourth Ward seat is being vacated by the termed-out Chris Kerrigan, a Democrat activist who left town for several months last year to assist the doomed campaign of presidential contender John Edwards of North Carolina. Atkins is widely perceived to be more in line with the views of First Ward councilmember Larry Glass, while Jager is seen as likely to side with incumbent councilmembers Jeff Leonard and Mike Jones, leaving the balance of power on the City Council virtually unchanged.

Leonard and Jones will leave the Council in 2010 due to term limits, leaving these as open seats. Glass and Mayor Virginia Bass will also face re-election when their current four-year terms expire.