Instead of students walking into Mr. Lee’s class as usual, today, there is added excitement and congratulations. “What’s up, Mayor?” shouts junior Jaxson Rattay as he walks through the door. Rattay is among the many students crowding Lee at his desk to congratulate him.
An hour after the polls closed Tuesday night, the results of the election came in, declaring John Lee as the mayor-elect for Mason City. Lee will officially be sworn in on January 1st.
“Mr. Lee is one of my favorite people ever. I was at Culver’s last night when we found out he won. I cheered for him really loud,” said Rattay.
Lee began his campaign in May, knocking on doors and putting up yard signs. Many have seen his “Lee for MC” signs around town. Lee commented in a previous interview that the campaigning life is stressful, and he thought he could have done better. Lee won the election with roughly 52% of the votes. His opponent, Kimber Kleven, a first-timer to politics fell short by 219 votes.
“Fifty-two percent of Mason Cityans think I was the best candidate for it, and I realize it is humbling,” says Lee, “I have a lot of work to do. I want to be the person who represents the entire city as much as I can. I know 100% of people will never be there, but hopefully I can move that needle a little bit. I know there is a lot of work ahead, and I would love to continue meeting with people for coffee, meet and greets, and getting to know more people.”
Shaking up the Celebration
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John Lee and supporters of his campaign celebrate at Culver’s after the election.
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John Lee and his three children Grant, Broderick, and Matilda after the city council election in 2011.
While many parts of the mayoral campaign were new to Lee, this was not his first election. Lee has previously run for City Council, and he has a tradition of picking up his yard signs with his family after voting day and then heading to Culver’s for celebratory shakes.
Due to his campaign being much larger this year, Lee needed help beyond his family. Around thirty volunteers and supporters showed up last night to help pick up the yard signs. And to uphold tradition, the group headed to Culver’s afterwards.
Lee was surrounded by friends, family, and custard when he received a text from the auditor saying, “Congratulations, Mr. Mayor.”
