Rapundalo beats Hull in 2nd Ward Democratic primary race for Ann Arbor City Council

Rapundalo, who was first elected to the City Council in 2005, will likely continue serving another two years on council. He faces no Republican challengers in November, and no independent or write-in candidate has stepped forward to challenge him.

Hull, a 26-year-old computer programmer at the University of Michigan, waged a somewhat quiet campaign that challenged Rapundalo for approving cuts to police and fire services.

Neither candidate aggressively attacked the other during the campaign, even though Hull's backers included a list of people who are strong opponents of the council majority.

Rapundalo spoke with AnnArbor.com while celebrating at Arbor Brewing Co. after the election. Should he have the honor and privilege of serving 2nd Ward residents for another two years, Rapundalo said, there are a few main issues he'll work on.

"We obviously need to wrap up the labor union contracts and get everybody on board on an equitable level," he said, referring to concessions the city is seeking from its police and fire unions, as well as city employees represented by AFSCME.

"Secondly, I think we need to look at revenue restructuring," he said. "And then thirdly, I heard a lot from the constituents about customer service or lack thereof, and I think we need to kind of refocus our staff to make sure the residents — the clients that we serve — are in fact pleased with the service they get. So that's what I'm going to be working on."

Hull commented on Tuesday's outcome.

"It didn't go as I had hoped, but I feel like I put up a decent showing — better than any of the other challengers in the races, percentage-wise," he said. "It was good to give people a choice and have a nice campaign in the 2nd Ward and I plan to stay active in city politics."

Read all Ann Arbor election results.