Joshua Schaer won his seat on Issaquah City Council on Tuesday night, after being the only person from the four open seats to be challenged.

Schaer claimed 62 percent of the count as of Tuesday evening, and his challenger, Thomas John Filley, took 37 percent in the Nov. 8 vote.

If all goes as planned, Schaer would be only one of two councilmen next year that had an opponent for their term.He’s also the only candidate in the past 8 years that has been challenged twice.

“We had a positive message, and I think people by and large are happy with how the city is doing,” Schaer said at his election party at the Issaquah Brewhouse.

Filley sent his congratulations to Schaer Wednesday morning in an email.

“Though disappointed with the outcome,” he wrote. “I recognized from the beginning that it is rare for a newcomer to knock off an incumbent their first time out.”

He focused his campaign on government spending, pointing often to the footbridge project over I-90 that came in over budget and late. The city only paid a small portion of the cost.

“We shined a light on how the council has outsourced its decision making responsibilities to whomever is willing to write a check,” Filley wrote.

In much of the same tune, Schaer was pleased with how much he learned about Issaquah residents through the campaign.

“It caused me to go out there get a pulse of the citizenry,” he said.

Fred Butler and Stacy Goodman returned to their seats unchallenged and Paul Winterstein will takeover John Traeger’s position come January.

Issaquah School District

While only one seat was challenged on Issaquah’s council, two of the three seats on the Issaquah School Board had a challenger. Both incumbents retained their seats.

Suzanne Weaver held strong with 64 percent of the count, about 7,500 votes, Tuesday night. Challenger Brian Neville took 36 percent.

Incumbent Brian Deagle also got a high count at 65 percent. Challenger Patrick Sansing took 35 percent of count.

Anne Moore, who is new to the board, ran unopposed.