Wellington Vice Mayor John McGovern and Councilwoman Tanya Siskind both handily defended their seats during the Tuesday, March 8 municipal election and earned new four-year terms on the Wellington Village Council.
According to unofficial results released by the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office, Seat 2 incumbent Siskind defeated both of her challengers, taking 3,788 votes (58.71 percent). Businessman Tony Nelson took 1,594 votes (24.71 percent), and Realtor Karen Morris-Clarke took 1,070 votes (16.58 percent).
In the Seat 3 race, incumbent McGovern took 4,121 votes (62.90 percent), while his challenger, business owner Johnny Meier, took 2,431 votes (37.10 percent). Approximately 6,500 voters cast their ballots.
Both winners gathered with supporters at the Wanderers Club after the polls closed. By the next morning, McGovern was ready to get back to work.
“This morning was an overwhelming sense of joy and confidence in the future,” McGovern told the Town-Crier the day after the election. “Yesterday’s result was a resounding statement that Wellington is on the right track, and that the policies of this council were embraced. In fact, the voters said they want them to continue.”
McGovern noted the unusually high turnout for a race with nothing else on the ballot. The election yielded the highest turnout for a stand-alone race in Wellington’s history, with only the 2016 race paired with the presidential preference primary seeing more voters.
“I was very pleased that so many people voted,” he said. “They wanted their voices heard, which makes the statement that Wellington is headed in the right direction even louder.”
McGovern said he partially shares his election victory with the many people who help make Wellington a great place to live.
“I think it says a lot about our community. It says a lot about the citizens who serve on our advisory boards, it says a lot about the greatness of the professionals who are throughout the Wellington staff working for the residents of Wellington every day. To the people who do the heavy lifting every day, the credit is theirs, too,” McGovern said.
At their joint election night party, both winners poured gratitude on their staff and families, in addition to other supporters.
“Mr. Vice Mayor, we have walked through fire once again and came through victorious. I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else, so thank you, John,” said Siskind, who also ran alongside McGovern and won in 2018. “I really want to say thank you to everyone in this room for voting, for taking signs, for contributing to the campaign. I do what I do for Wellington because of all of you. Thank you so much for your support. It has been a pretty tough race with two opponents, a different race than four years ago, but thank you again for all the support.”
Joining McGovern and Siskind after the election were Councilman Michael Napoleone and Councilman Michael Drahos, both of whom endorsed the incumbents’ re-election efforts.
“To my fellow councilmen, I can’t thank you enough. You were like a rock in a storm,” Siskind said. “You guys were there every turn and had our backs. I’m really excited to be on the council for another four years and continue all the great things we have going on.”
The next day, Siskind said she was pleased by the outcome of the campaign. “When I woke up this morning, I was very happy to have won my re-election. I’m extremely grateful to the many, many supporters who helped me and encouraged me along the way,” she said. “It’s a relief to have the stress of campaigning behind me so that I can focus on continuing my work on the council.”
McGovern emphasized his belief that their victory was a win for everyone in Wellington.
“So many of you made videos, calls, texts, Facebook posts — but the fact is that today, Wellington won,” said McGovern at the post-election gathering. “Wellington won because this community is on the right track, not because of me, or Councilwoman Siskind, or because of my colleagues, but because of all of you. This is the premier community to raise a family, to go to school, to participate in parks and recreation programming. It is low tax, low crime, high property value, and those are also not taglines. We came together as a community. Wellington voted and said, ‘We love Wellington.’ And because of that, we won tonight.”
