County exec spot to see Holman, Gebert face-off

By Brandi Makuski

With all precincts reporting, Jami Gebert and Chris Holman have secured their place in the April 3 election for Portage County Executive.

The night began with Holman in the lead, where he remained all evening. Candidate Matt Jacowski spent most of the night in second place, until precincts inside the City of Stevens Point began to trickle in, and Gebert gained ground.

Within about 90 minutes, it was all over.

All told, it was still a close race, with Holman bringing in 2,715 votes; Gebert winning 2,465 votes and Jacowski bringing up the rear with a respectable 1,964 ballots cast.

“We’re all excited, of course, it’s excellent news,” Holman said Tuesday night by phone. “It’s good to see a lot of support for urban and rural areas of the county. As far as planning goes, tomorrow is sort of like starting over, and keep doing what we’re going.”

Holman also thanked his supporters, and said he’ll be working on “showing the rest of the voters in the county what we can do.”

In an email statement, Jacowski extended his congratulations to Holman and Gebert, calling it a “close race”.

“It was pleasure to get to meet people across the county throughout my campaign,” Jacowski wrote. “I will continue to represent my constituents of District 22 on the county board and look forward to representing them in the future. I will continue to stand up for Portage County taxpayers and do what is best for all of Portage County. I would like to thank my family for the sacrifices they have made during the campaign I would also like to thank my supporters and everybody on the campaign team.”

A call to Gebert was not immediately returned.