Politics & Government

Barnett, Ambrozaitis Will Face Off in November Mayoral Race

Council candidates are Kochenderfer and Puscas; Tisdel, Webber, Fitzgerald and Hilbert.

Rochester Hills Mayor will face challenger on Nov. 8, according to final primary election results released Tuesday night.

Voter turnout overall was 13.8 percent.

Barnett, who has been the city's mayor since 2006, received 5,316 to Ambrozaitis’s 754 votes. Challenger received 527 votes; received 101 votes.

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Reached late Tuesday night after the results were announced, Barnett said he and his supporters were "ecstatic."

"It's a nice validation of our efforts and of our message," Barnett said. "We're reminded, though, that we didn't win the seat tonight — we won a chance to earn the seat in November."

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Ambrozaitis, a real estate agent and former Rochester Hills city councilman, faced Barnett in 2007. That November, Barnett received 77 percent of the vote; Ambrozaitis received 23 percent.

"No matter who finished second tonight, my message and strategy wasn't going to change," said Barnett. "We are going to keep our positive message."

For the District 2 city council seat, and will face off in November. Kochenderfer is a lawyer and former student body president at Oakland University; he received 1,018 votes. Puscas is a community activist and journalist; she received 867 votes.  Challenger received 261 votes.

For two at-large city council seats, ,, and will compete in November.

Tisdel, an insurance agent, led the pack with 3,552 votes. Incumbent City Councilman Webber received 3,125 votes; Hilbert, a community activist and nurse, received 1,860 votes, and Fitzgerald, a real estate agent and longtime resident, received 1,804 votes.

Here's a live look at election results as they were released:

10:15 p.m. Everything but the absentee ballots have been counted, and Ambrozaitis leads Miller by fewer than 2 percent. Ambrozaitis has 12.44 percent; Miller has 10.69 percent. Barnett has 75.72 percent of the vote, and Wylie has 1.07 percent.

In the race for District 2, Kochenderfer leads the pack with 48 percent; Puscas has 36 percent and Kotubey has 15 percent.

9:50 p.m. With parts of all but two precincts reporting, Miller has 10.66 percent and Ambrozaitis has 11.68 percent of the vote; Barnett has 76 percent of the votes.

In the race for District 2, parts of all nine of the precincts have reported. Kochenderfer leads the pack with 48 percent; Puscas has 36 percent and Kotubey has 15 percent.

In the at-large race, it's Tisdel (29 percent), Webber (27 percent),  Hilbert (18 percent), Fitzgerald (17 percent), Elandt (4 percent) and Adair (4 percent).

9:45 p.m. With parts of 16 precincts reporting, Miller has 10 percent and Ambrozaitis has 9 percent of the vote; Barnett has 80 percent of the votes.

In the race for District 2, Kochenderfer is leading with 50 percent; Puscas has 37 percent and Kotubey has 13 percent. Six of nine precincts have reported.

In the at-large race, it's Tisdel (30 percent), Webber (28 percent),  Hilbert (17 percent), Fitzgerald (16 percent), Elandt (4 percent) and Adair (4 percent).

9:30 p.m. With seven precincts reporting, Barnett leads with 77 percent; Miller has 11 percent and Ambrozaitis has 10 percent.

In the race for District 2, Kochenderfer is leading with 55 percent; Puscas has 33 percent and Kotubey has 12 percent. Three of nine precincts had reported.

In the at-large race, Tisdel has 29 percent, Webber 28 percent, Hilbert 19 percent, Fitzgerald 16 percent, Elandt 4 percent and Adair 3 percent.

9:15 p.m. With an undetermined number of precincts counted, Barnett was leading the pack with 79.5 percent of the vote; Miller had 10 percent of the vote and Ambrozaitis had 8.5 percent of the vote.

Wylie had 2 percent of the vote. A total of 317 votes had been counted.

For all of our election coverage, visit our Rochester Hills Election 2011 page.


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