St. Clair’s council wards draw the Blue Water Area’s busiest city races, while Algonac and Marine City candidates run unopposed

ST. CLAIR, Mich. — Voters in the city of St. Clair will see more City Council candidates on their Nov. 3 ballots than voters in any other river town south of Port Huron. In Algonac and Marine City, every city candidate is running without an opponent.

That is the picture from the unofficial candidate list for the November election posted by the St. Clair County Clerk’s office. Port Huron’s contested races are not included here.

This year St. Clair’s ballot carries two two-year council seats in each of its three wards. Ten candidates are running for those six seats: three in Ward 1, three in Ward 2 and four in Ward 3, the list shows. Bill Cedar Jr. is the only candidate for the city’s two-year mayoral term.

Ward 1 candidates are Mitchell J. Kuffa, Kyle Silver and Micah D. Volz. Ward 2 lists Chris Kuechenmeister, Mike LaPorte and Kristopher A. Paul. Ward 3 lists Erin Gottler, Thomas Jalosky, Bill Klieman and William Westrick.

In Marysville, four candidates are seeking three four-year council seats: Harry Dunn, Ethan Kut, Dave Watson and Paul A. Wessel. Kathleen L. Hayman is the only name for mayor.

Memphis has the area’s only contested mayor’s race on the list, between Gretchen Varney and Tammy J. Wehrum. Five candidates are running there for three council seats.

Farther down the river, the ballot is settled before the first vote. Algonac has three candidates, Ed Carter, Dawn Davey and Rocky Gillis, for three council seats. In Marine City, Jennifer Vandenbossche is unopposed for mayor, and Jacob D. Bryson, Rita G. Roehrig and Walter Tripp are the only candidates for three seats on the City Commission. The commission has six members plus the mayor, with staggered four-year terms so no more than three seats turn over in an election, according to the city.

School board races are mixed. Four active candidates are seeking three six-year seats on the Algonac Community School District board, after a fifth withdrew. Marysville Public Schools has five candidates for four full terms and one for a partial term. East China has two candidates for two seats.

Sources:
St. Clair County Clerk, “Unofficial Candidate List for November 2026”, https://stclaircountyclerk.org/Public/File/november_2026_candidate_list_pdf
St. Clair County election results site, Nov. 3, 2026, General Election, Marysville City Council ballot item, https://app.enhancedvoting.com/results/public/st.-clair-county-mi/elections/November2026GeneralElection_20260928112331/ballot-items/01000000-c639-6905-4d79-08df1d7337ae
City of Marine City, “City Commission”, https://marinecity.gov/city-commission/
Photo: Lorie Shaull, “Vote Here sign in Minneapolis, Minnesota (50564083472),” Nov. 3, 2020, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/), cropped and color-corrected; derivative under the same ShareAlike license, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vote_Here_sign_in_Minneapolis,_Minnesota_(50564083472).jpg

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