BRUNSWICK — Dan Ankeles will be the newest member of the Brunswick Town Council, taking more than 63 percent of the votes in Tuesday’s election, according to unofficial results.
Ankeles, a legislative aide, defeated his opponent, planning board member Sande Updegraph, 6,011 votes to 3,511. There were 101 write-in votes.
“We have a lot of work to do, and the challenge of our time is to make sure people can continue to afford to live here while still protecting the quality of public education,” Ankeles said in a written statement. “It won’t be an easy needle to thread and we will need everyone at the table to get the job done.”
Ankeles and Updegraph ran notably courteous campaigns, agreeing at a recent candidate forum that they had nothing but respect for their opponent and agreed on most issues.
“I can’t think of anyone I’d rather run alongside,” Ankeles said at the time.
In his statement, he acknowledged that Updegraph “ran a strong race and clearly demonstrated a great deal of commitment to and love for Brunswick.”
He added that he hoped they would be able to work collaboratively in the future.
Both were at the polls, bundled against dropping temperatures and rain as the day turned into evening outside Brunswick Junior High School. Ankeles said in a phone interview that he was worn out at after “shaking hands for 13 hours.”
Voters poured in throughout the day in what deputy clerk Elin Gould said was a “steady and heavy” stream, but that it was not until the polls closed at 8 p.m. that the “hard work starts.”
At 7:58 p.m. two Bowdoin students entered, one heading to check in, the other nearly racing to the registration area.
Adele Bailey, 21, was a straggler at the polls, having come back after voting earlier in the day to bring her aunt to vote. As a young person, it is important to vote, she said, to show that the new generation is listening.
“It doesn’t matter where you stand,” she said, “We have a voice.”
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