The former mayor defeated Councilman Bentley by 67 votes

Scott Sessions won a special election for mayor of Hillsdale Tuesday, defeating Ward 2 Councilman Matthew Bentley by about six percentage points.

Sessions won by only 67 votes out of the 1,109 who voted. About 53% of voters cast ballots for Sessions, who served as mayor from 2013 to 2017. Forty-seven percent voted for Bentley. About 21% of registered voters participated, less than half of the 52% turnout in the city’s 2022 mayoral election.

Sessions will be sworn in as mayor of Hillsdale Nov. 17 and finish the current mayoral term in November 2026. To serve another four-year term, Sessions would have to run again in the August 2026 primary and November 2026 general elections.

Standing outside of the Hillsdale County Courthouse late Tuesday night, Sessions told The Collegian it was a “hard and tough” race.

“A campaign’s a rollercoaster ride,” Sessions said, shortly after hearing he won. “You’re up, you’re down, you’re up, you’re down. I just thought to myself, it can go either way.”

Since he was first elected in 2013, Sessions said he thinks city politics has been overtaken by a “negative culture” created by Bentley, as well as Mayor Pro Tem Joshua Paladino (Ward 4) and Councilman Jacob Bruns (Ward 1).

“Hopefully, we’ll get along, and we’ll make it work,” Sessions said. “Because to me, that’s what they’re there for too, is to make it work, and not work against us, or me, or the rest of the council. We all need to come together.”

Five city officials have resigned since March, including the city’s engineer, zoning administrator, airport manager, and two public utilities supervisors. To “cut down” on the “negative culture,” Sessions said he will implement a “chain of command.”

“I’m going to tell the council that I want them to go through me,” Sessions said. “They go through me and not go directly to the city staff. Bring it to me, and I go to the city manager and he goes to the staff. That’s probably one of my first things.”

On the other side of town, Bentley and his friends stood around a firepit waiting for results. When he heard the bad news, Bentley put out his cigarette to do a TV interview with Fox 47.

“Shock, and then relief,” Bentley told The Collegian, were his two reactions when he first heard Sessions had won.

“I was surprised to lose,” Bentley said. “But I’m still on council, and I can still fight the special assessments, and I don’t have to have the stress and pressure of being the mayor.”

Special assessments districts, or SADs, require individual property owners in a designated district to pay up to $5,000 for repairs on their street. Bentley said he wants to reform the system and lower the residential caps to reduce costs for residents, while Sessions said it would be “discriminatory” to end SADs after other residents have already paid for repairs this way.

The mayor of Hillsdale is a voting member of the city council who runs the meetings, but the office has no executive authority. Instead, the city council oversees the job of city staff, which is led by the city manager.

That’s why, Bentley said, he isn’t very disappointed by his loss.

“There are three of us, so we were three of eight,” Bentley said, referring to himself, Paladino, and Bruns. “Now, we’re three of nine. So the stakes weren’t that high in that sense. The real fight will be, was always going to be, 2026.”

Along with the four-year mayor term, four city council seats, one for each of the city’s wards, will be up for grabs next year. Bentley said he and his group aim to win those seats.

“The campaign for 2026 will start in earnest in January, and we hope to get a majority on council,” he said. “And, God willing, we’ll be so back.”

Bentley said he will continue to ask questions directly of city staff.

“It looks like what everybody sees at city council meetings all the time,” he said. “It’s asking questions and trying to hold people accountable.”

After voting at the Hillsdale Community Library Tuesday evening, Hillsdale College senior Jihye Kim told The Collegian she had researched each candidate and sought to make an informed choice.

“I didn’t just want to be someone who goes to school for four years and then doesn’t do their civic duty,” Kim said. “I want to be part of this community. I care about Hillsdale.”

Sessions said in a statement he was grateful to his family, friends, and supporters.

“I promise to listen, to lead with honesty, and to work hard for every resident,” Sessions said. “Together, we’ll focus on what matters most: better infrastructure, stronger local businesses, safe neighborhoods, and opportunities for all.”