This article was last updated July 23, 2025.
This is a preview of the November 4 elections in Kalamazoo County.
See who’s running for local office this year in Kalamazoo, Portage, Parchment
Kalamazoo City Commission
The mayor and three seats on the Kalamazoo City Commission are up for election. The seven commissioners are Mayor David Anderson (on since 2005, mayor since 2019), Don Cooney (1997-2019, 2021-P), Jeanne Hess (2019), Chris Praedel (2019), Qianna Decker (2021), Stephanie Hoffman (2021), and Alonzo Wilson II (2023).
The mayor is elected separately every two years. There are staggered four-year terms for the other seats, with three up for election every two years. Cooney, Decker, and Hoffman were elected to 4-year terms in 2021, and Hess, Praedel, and Wilson were elected in 2023.
Mayor Anderson, a center-left democrat, will run for reelection. He is being challenged by Robert E. Gray and Chris Glasser.
Cooney and Decker are retiring, while Hoffman is seeking reelection. The other candidates are Bernard Dervan III, Drew Duncan, Jacqueline Slaby, Jessica Thompson, Keshia Dickason, Kizzy Bradford, Sara Schlack, Soloman Carpenter, and Thomas Durlach. As far as I know, none have sought election before.
Portage City Council
The mayor and three seats on the Portage City Council are up for election. Patricia Randall was elected mayor in 2017 after serving on the council since 2009. She is being challenged by Nasim Ansari, a former Kalamazoo county commissioner (02-12) and Portage city commissioner (13-17). Ansari is a conservative Republican.
The other councilmembers are Terry Urban (1997), Jim Pearson (2011), Chris Burns (2017), and Vic Ledbetter (2020), Nicole Miller (2023), and Jihan Ain Young (2023). The three seats up for 4-year terms are held by Urban, Ledbetter, and Young. All three an running for reelection.
Also running are Charley Coss, Jason Mikkelborg, Mark McKeon, Kathleen Olmsted, and Jay Woodhams. Coss is the current Kalamazoo GOP vice-chair, and has run for county commission several times. Kathleen Olmsted is the current Kalamazoo GOP secretary. Mikkelborg was a GOP candidate for county commission in 2024. McKeon also ran for council in 2023.
