GH voters re-elect Payne, Young

Incumbents defeat GH natives, now turn attention to budget

Nate Hulings

of the Gateway

Status quo won out over a fresh face and a former city manager in the Gig Harbor City Council races during last week’s general election.

Incumbents Tim Payne and Derek Young defeated challengers who have lived in the Gig Harbor area for most of their lives.

The most hotly contested race matched Payne against Gig Harbor native and former city manager Mark Hoppen. Payne secured nearly 58 percent of the vote; a win his opponent credits in part to effective campaigning.

“My perception is that he got his message out really well,” Hoppen said. “Tim’s campaign was highly coordinated and very impressive.”

A large contingent of volunteers helped his campaign run smoothly, Payne said.

“What I bring is a different perspective than the native-son perspective,” said Payne, who has lived in Gig Harbor for the past eight years.

At times during the campaign, Payne said he felt almost like a challenger as opposed to an incumbent.

“When you think of the name Hoppen and its history with this town, the fact we could put the numbers up that we did was very encouraging,” Payne said.

Since he ran unopposed four years ago, the time he spent campaigning the past few months had to focus more on personal introduction, he said.

Despite the loss, Hoppen said he will remain actively involved in Gig Harbor city government.

“I’m an informed citizen who shows up and participates in issues that matter to me,” he said. “I will continue to do that.”

Payne said his major concern is to make sure service levels are maintained at a certain level of expectation. Water and sewer infrastructure are near “emergency mode” and need to be addressed immediately, Payne said.

Young wins bid for fourth term

The Council Position 3 race showed the experience of a three-term council member was too much for a homegrown newcomer to overcome.

Young, who won 65 percent of the vote, ran on his history on the council and his desire to help the city during economic hardship. Ken Asplund, a Gig Harbor native, used his local roots and “fresh face” approach.

“I guess the voters chose experience over change,” Asplund said.

For Young, last week’s election night marked the first time he went to bed knowing the results. In his first election bid, Young won by two votes. Only a few points determined the last election.

Young said the comfortable win felt good.

“I’m pretty happy about it,” he said.

Asplund called Young to congratulate him once the initial results were released. During their conversation, Young said he told Asplund to stay positive.

“I told him that I wouldn’t be discouraged — there’s a lot of things voters could be saying,” Young said.

The reasoning could be as simple as “there’s enough people out there that figured I could help,” he said.

Another stark difference between the candidates was campaign strategies.

“I had signs, and he had endorsements — that helped him out,” Asplund said.