Two Oak Harbor councilmen who want to be the next mayor will be moving forward to the general election, according to the first count of ballots in the primary election.

In the race for a seat on the Whidbey General Hospital board, challenger Rob Born and incumbent Georgia Gardner will be moving forward, while Rita Drum was knocked out.

Councilman Bob Severns won the most votes in the race for the mayor. He got 1,181 votes, or 52 percent, while Councilman Jim Campbell earned 807 votes, which is 36 percent.

Longtime resident Martha Yount came in third with 266 votes, or 12 percent.

Severns said he is grateful for the support and has the utmost respect for his fellow candidates. He appreciates Yount’s civic spirit in entering the race.

“I would now like to invite and encourage those who supported her to contribute their ideas, energy, and support to my campaign,” he said.

In a written statement, he said the voters have sent a message and he promises changes are coming to City Hall.

“I am firm in my belief that we as a city can do much better then our recent past. Under my leadership we will repair relationships and re-establish a fully functional and effective city government,” he wrote. “The arguing is done. The lack of cooperation, communication, and trust will be no more.”

Yet Campbell said he shouldn’t be counted out. He pointed out that there may be a lot of ballots left to count and the gap could close.

He said his goal was to make it through the primary election, which he achieved. He said he hasn’t done a lot of door-belling and other campaigning up to this point.

“I will be implementing a different strategy after this,” he said. “I’ve got it all planned.”

In the hospital board race, Born received the most votes with 3,858, which is 47 percent. Gardner got 3,136 ballots cast in her favor, or 38 percent. Drum received 1,311 votes, or 16 percent.

Born said he feels good about making the top two.

“I spent the past week on street corners waving a sign,” he said. He waved signs from locations in Langley to Oak Harbor.

“I just got a whole lot of beeps and waves,” he said

He wonders what’s going to happen next. “That’s the wild card. Is she going to turn into a different breed of campaigner? If she does, we’ll have to step it up.”