Brandsen

PENDLETON — Sally Brandsen will be one of two new faces on the Pendleton City Council in 2021.

Brandsen, a public relations specialist, won the race for the open Ward 2 seat against Melissa Shumake, a Walla Walla land use planner.

Brandsen said she was humbled by voter support and thought her positive campaign resonated with the voters of the North Hill district.

Shumake said she was glad the race was contested, adding that one-candidate races were undemocratic, before vowing to stay involved with Pendleton city government.

“I’ll be back,” she said.

Brandsen may not have to wait until January to take her seat, which opened up after the sudden death of Councilor Scott Fairley in early January. The man appointed to replace Fairley through the end of the year, Chuck Wood, has said he would be willing to resign early to make way for the winner of the Ward 2 race.

In the only other contested race, Ward 3 incumbent Dale Primmer handily turned back a challenge from retiree Larry Anderson.

Going into the race, Primmer said he felt good about his first term and the support he built from constituents, noting that he received more votes this year than he did in 2016.

Anderson didn’t have any harsh words for his opponent, saying Primmer was “one of the good ones” on the council.

Anderson said he entered the race for the south Pendleton ward to raise awareness about the city’s spending habits rather than any issue he had with Primmer.

“If I wasn’t running, I probably would’ve voted for him,” Anderson said.

Retired U.S. Forest Service administrator Kevin Martin ran unopposed for the open Ward 1 seat, and he’ll replace the retiring Becky Marks next year. Mayor John Turner and at-large Councilor Paul Chalmers both ran unopposed and easily won second terms Tuesday night.

The city’s 4-cent gas tax proposal wasn’t as fortunate, getting voted down by a wide margin.

The pro-gas tax political action committee had to pull support for the measure once the COVID-19 pandemic set in, but that didn’t stop an anti-gas tax PAC funded by gas station owners and oil distributors from spending thousands of dollars to defeat it.

Despite passing it every five years since 2000, Pendleton voters also rejected a Pendleton School District general operations levy.

The district is already set to face a budget crunch due to anticipated cuts in state funding, and now the district will also lose out on the $300,000 per year the levy generates.