By Mike Warren

MARSHFIELD – For just the second time in its 150-year history, the city of Marshfield has elected a female mayor.

TeStrake

Lois TeStrake defeated former mayor, Bob McManus, 2,367-1,677, in polling conducted April 5. TeStrake won all 10 precincts in the city of Marshfield, and also carried the Marathon County portion of the city. TeStrake won by 690 votes, after finishing second in a three-way primary election in February. McManus was the top vote-getter then, but just 15 votes separated the two – with Ken Bargender drawing 513 ballots.

McManus was attempting to win his third mayoral race. He was first elected in 2018 and reelected in 2020, before being removed from office in March 2021 over allegations he deleted text messages which were part of public record requests at the time.

For TeStrake, this was her first attempt at public office, and she now joins Marilyn Hardacre as the only women to hold the office of mayor in Marshfield.

Other races

The city also has a new female alderperson. Natasha Tompkins replaces Quentin Rosandich, 341-241.

Cathy Gorst is the newest member of the board of education in the School District of Marshfield. In some of the closest voting in recent years, Gorst narrowly defeated Alanna Feddick-Goodwin and Iddi Adam to grab an open seat on the board, after incumbent Kajal Sitwala chose not to seek reelection, after winning a write-in campaign in 2019.

The other incumbent, Dale Yakaites, was the top vote-getter among the four candidates. By getting 2,962 votes, Yakaites wins another three-year term on the board.

Gorst finished in second place, with 2,852 votes. Feddick-Goodwin finished in third place, with 2,818, while Adam finished in fourth place with 2,816 ballots in his favor.

Yakaites and Adam were the top vote-getters in the Wood County portion of the school district, while Gorst and Feddick easily won the Marathon and Clark County portions. The voting was so close that one township – Fremont – swung the bottom three positions late on election night. With just that one township left uncounted, results showed Adam in second place, followed by Gorst and then Feddick. However, Fremont’s votes put Gorst into second place and on the school board, while Feddick climbed into third place, and Adam dropped to fourth place.

Gorst and Yakaites will now serve three-year terms on the board.