Incumbents and newcomers split 6 contested Rockford City Council races; 4 challengers win in Rockford Township

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Incumbent aldermen retained their seats in half of Tuesday’s six contested City Council races, with newcomers claiming three other spots.

Aldermen Gabrielle Torina, Gina Meeks and Mark Bonne are each poised to keep their City Council seats, according to unofficial election results from the Rockford Board of Elections. Challengers Dawn Granath, Jaime Salgado and Tamir Bell were victorious in the other three contested races.

In the Rockford Township trustee race, incumbent Mustafa Abdall was defeated in a five-person race for four seats with Kylee Miller, Tami Goral, Simon McNamara and L.C. Wilson garnering the most votes.

The results will remain unofficial until all mail-in ballots are counted and the election is certified on March 11.

All of Tuesday’s contested races in Rockford were in the Democratic Party primary. There were no contested races for Republicans.

The primary election decided who will sit on the council in most races. Only the 8th Ward has a contested race on April 1, with Democrat Karen Hoffman challenged by independent candidate Jason Leviskas.

Democratic nominees for township trustee will face Republicans Ginger Haas, Frank Manzullo, Michael E. O’Toole and Eli Nicolosi in April.

Here’s a look at the results in the city’s contested races.

5th Ward

Alderwoman Gabrielle Torina retained her seat with 49% of the vote.

9th Ward

Challenger Dawn Granath, a Rockford Public Schools special education teacher, defeated incumbent Bill Rose with 65% of the vote.

11th Ward

Winnebago County Board member Jaime Salgado defeated incumbent Isidro Barrios with 57% of the vote. Salgado, an accountant in his third term on the County Board, plans to resign from his county seat to serve on City Council.

12th Ward

Incumbent Gina Meeks defeated Carrie Crosby with 58% of the vote.

13th Ward

Tamir Bell, a 21-year-old precinct committeeman, won a decisive victory over three other opponents with 63% of the vote. Alderman Jeff Bailey, who was appointed to the City Council in January 2023 after the death of Alderwoman Linda McNeely, was the second-highest vote-getter with 21%.

14th Ward

Alderman Mark Bonne captured 81% of the vote to cruise to victory over challenger Ali Abuihmoud.

Rockford Township trustee

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas