‘I’m lucky to have all the support I have’: Troup gets emotional after edging Brink to win Republican mayoral primary

QUINCY — Mike Troup grabbed the microphone Tuesday night in the basement of Tower of Pizza to celebrate with his supporters moments after learning he had defeated Dan Brink to win the Republican primary for mayor.

However, Troup quickly became emotional when he talked about a certain group of his supporters.

A morning breakfast for Republican party leaders is typically held Mondays at the American Legion. Troup said Kathy Xamis approached him during the Feb. 17 meeting and told him not to leave immediately afterward because a group of women, who typically stay after the breakfast for Bible study, wanted to see him.

“I was worried about that. That made me wonder what they’re up to,” Troup said. “So I go over to (the group, which also was in attendance Tuesday night). Just like bees on honey, all of a sudden, I’m in the middle of this group, and they all start praying for me.”

Troup then paused as his voice cracked.

“I still get moved by that,” he said as tears rolled down his face. “That wasn’t the first prayer that I’ve made, but I don’t necessarily like to be the center of attention. … You don’t know what that meant to me, and it still does. I’m lucky to have all the support I have.”

Troup garnered 1,770 votes (52 percent), while Brink received 1,632 votes. While the difference was only 138 votes, it wasn’t as close as Troup’s primary victory in 2021 when he edged Paul Havermale by 23 votes. He went on to defeat Democrat Nora Baldner to win his first term as mayor.

Troup now will face former City Treasurer Linda Moore, running as an independent, in the April 1 consolidated election. He will try to avoid becoming the first mayor since 1933 not to win re-election after his first term in office. 

Brink, a former two-term 6^th Ward alderman, said after a gathering with followers at On the Rail on Tuesday night that he knew running against an incumbent would be difficult.

“I think we brought out some pretty good issues that the city needs to address going forward,” he said. “I really like the tourism aspect. I think we need to really focus on tourism and how do we pay for our services with people from outside.”

Brink said it was “unlikely” that he would run for office again.

Brink outpaced Troup in 18 of the city’s 42 precincts and was tied in one (Quincy 7). He won Quincy precincts 31 through 38, with most of them touching the 6th Ward where he served as a two-term alderman from 2007 to 2015. He won Quincy precincts 8 through 14, which were predominantly in the city’s 1st and 2nd wards. He also won Quincy precincts 1, 3 and 5 and Riverside precinct 3.

“You’ve got to have respect for the Dan Brink campaign, as well as my campaign,” Troup said. “We presented the issues, and we got voters to come help.”

Troup said “everybody needs a breather” now that the primary campaign is finished, but his campaign backers will start the election process again in a couple of days.

Asked if he will try to court the people who voted for Brink in the primary, Troup said, “Everybody’s got to readjust. Who do you want? Do you want to re-elect me as a Republican, or do you want to bring in an independent? We’ll have to hear more from Linda as to what her issues are and what her proposed solutions are. I hope that the debates will pull some of that out.”

Adams County Clerk and Recorder Ryan Niekamp said 211 mail-in mayoral ballots are outstanding. Votes postmarked for return before Tuesday will still be counted. Niekamp will officially canvass the election (account for every ballot cast) on March 11.