Four key takeaways from the 2025 Columbia City Council elections
The shape of Columbia City Council for the next several years has been decided, after a general election Nov. 4 and a runoff election Tuesday night.
Here are four takeaways from the local elections in Columbia this year.
All but one incumbent are keeping their seats
Just one new face will join Columbia City Council in 2026. Sam Johnson won the at-large council seat over incumbent Aditi Bussells by more than 10 points, making him the only challenger to win over a sitting council member this year.
Three other sitting council members successfully ran for re-election: Mayor Daniel Rickenmann, Tina Herbert in District 1, and Peter Brown in District 4. Brown’s race went to a runoff Tuesday, but he ultimately pulled out a nearly 10-point victory over challenger Julie Lumpkin to secure the seat representing Columbia’s eastern district.
Rickenmann and Herbert both faced challengers in their races, but both won outright on Nov. 4, each receiving more than 60% of the vote.
Council responsiveness was a repeated campaign topic
Candidates running for City Council this year stuck to several routine talking points, like public safety, affordable housing and addressing homelessness. But among the key issues identified by those running for local office was the desire to see City Council be more responsive to resident concerns.
Runner-up candidates Ashley McCall and Julie Lumpkin in District 4, and Jessica Thomas and Wade Fulmer for the mayor’s seat all repeatedly spoke about the desire to communicate more directly with Columbia residents. They proposed things like listening tours and tapping neighborhood ambassadors to improve the level of access the public has to their elected officials.
In recent history, current council members have been involved in town halls and public information meetings for specific undertakings like homeless services and roadway safety. But the question of how accessible each council member is to resident requests depends on who you ask. Ultimately, voters chose to keep City Council largely the same, with only the at-large seat changing hands at the end of this year.
Turnout didn’t surpass 2021
About 19% of registered voters turned out to vote in the municipal election Nov. 4, that’s less than the roughly 23% of voters who turned out in 2021 – the last time both the mayor’s seat and an at-large seat were on the ballot at the same time.
In 2021, nearly 26% of registered voters turned out for the runoff elections that year, which also included the mayor’s race and the at-large race. One hundred more people voted in the runoff than in the general election that year, with nearly 20,500 ballots cast.
That didn’t happen this year. About 10,250 votes were cast in the runoff Tuesday – a drop from the 17,400 votes cast Nov. 4, and a significant difference from the 2021 runoff.
Runner-up candidates split the votes in two races, leading to runoff elections
Votes in the at-large race Nov. 4 were split between four candidates, with Sam Johnson getting closest but not quite eking out the 50% plus 1 vote needed to win the seat outright. Johnson received 47% of the vote Nov. 4, with 7,151 ballots cast in his favor. He won the runoff Tuesday with nearly 56% of the vote or 5,710 ballots cast in his favor.
Incumbent Aditi Bussells received about 43% of the vote Nov. 4, and about 44% of the vote in the runoff Tuesday.
The two other candidates in the Nov. 4 at-large election received a combined 1,423 votes, but it was enough to keep the initial race between the top two vote-getters too close to call. Jared Johnson received about 6% of the Nov. 4 vote, and Tony Bowen received about 3%.
A three-person race for the District 4 seat also went to a runoff after the third-place contender Ashley McCall won just under 24% of the total – plenty to keep either of her other two competitors in the race from receiving the needed majority.
Incumbent Peter Brown won the most votes in that race with about 47% of the total, and challenger Julie Lumpkin received the other roughly 30% of the vote. Brown beat Lumpkin in the Tuesday runoff by nearly 10 points.
