John Day Mayor Ron Lundbom makes a point during the Oct. 11, 2022, session of John Day City Council. Lundbom is looking to fight off a challenge from City Councilor Heather Rookstool to remain mayor of John Day.

JOHN DAY — Longtime John Day Mayor Ron Lundbom had never had a challenger for the office — until this year, when City Councilor Heather Rookstool threw her hat into the ring.

The vote was close, but Rookstool was winning by a 398-350 margin in unofficial returns on election night, Tuesday, Nov. 8.

An updated vote count on Monday, Nov. 14 saw Rookstool’s lead decrease by a single vote. The margin now stands at 301-354 in favor of Rookstool. 

The election of Rookstool brings an end to Lundbom’s decade-long run as the mayor of John Day.

The city will likely take a new direction with Rookstool at the helm coupled with the ascension of two new city councilors that had campaigned with her in the lead-up to the election. 

The victory likely carries some sort of vindication for Rookstool, whose ability to defeat the longtime incumbent was doubted from the start of her campaign. Rookstool’s platform of civility and transparency carried the day, however.

Rookstool said she was feeling excited and nervous following the result of the election. “Probably more excited than nervous,” she said.

The first item on Rookstool’s agenda will be rebuilding the relationship between the city and the county, followed by taking a look at the city’s finances. 

Rookstool said she texted Lundbom and thanked him for keeping the race civil and added that she seeks to convince those whose votes she did not receive that she is the right person for the job at this time. 

“I respect and thank him for his 20 years of service to the city, and I hope that I can do what I’ve set my goals at. I hope that the people who didn’t vote for me will watch what I do over the next four years and hopefully grow to  understand why I wanted to be a mayor,” she said.

Rookstool also addressed doubts about her campaign and her ability to defeat Lundbom some in the community had.

“The numbers prove who won, and I think, too, that the community was ready for the change,” she said. “We are at a point in our life in Grant County as a whole where we needed to make some serious changes, and what has been happening a stagnant eight, 10 years needs to change. I think the community saw that.”

With a number of major but unfinished projects in the works, Lundbom expressed concern over the direction the city might take under a new mayor and revamped city council. 

“I think the people of John Day lost. … I’m more disappointed for the city of John Day, not for myself,” he said.

Lundbom also voiced concerns that some of the city’s partners in various projects might decide to back away if support for those projects is eroded on the council and in the community.

“People will (say), ‘Well, if they (John Day) don’t like the direction they’re going and we’ve been helping them go in that direction, why should we continue to help them go in that direction?'”

Rookstool will be sworn in as mayor at the beginning of 2023.