After Tuesday’s city election, Gainesville voters were hoping to get a new mayor and city commissioner.
Instead, they’re getting another election.
In the race for Gainesville mayor and a District 4 City Commission seat, no candidate received the 50-percent plus one vote necessary to avoid a runoff. The top two candidates in each race will have to make their case to the voters one last time.
In the mayoral race, City Commissioner Craig Lowe secured 40 percent of votes cast while local business owner Don Marsh received 29 percent.
“I’m very gratified by the results,” Lowe said. “I’m very energized to continue a very positive, progressive, future-oriented campaign.
In the District 4 City Commission race, Randy Wells got 47 percent of the vote, topping Penny Wheat’s 37 percent.
With his wife by his side and his daughter in his arms, Wells expressed gratitude for his supporters and vowed to continue his outreach to voters.
“It’s going to take more knocking on doors,” Wells said. “(People) won’t be surprised to see my face for the second or third time.”
The other candidates for city commission were Mason Alley, Pat Fitzpatrick and Nathaniel Sperling, who collectively received 15 percent of the vote.
Of the 72,623 registered voters in Alachua County, 10,167, or 14 percent, cast their ballots.
Although the turnout was less than the 25 percent that Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Pam Carpenter hoped for, it was an increase from the 10.7 percent of eligible voters who turned out for the 2007 mayoral election.
Finishing behind Lowe and Marsh, Monica Leadon Cooper grabbed 25 percent of the vote while Richard Selwach and Ozzy Angulo picked up 4.3 and 1.5 percent respectively.
Selwach, the owner of Best Jewelry & Loan Pawnbrokers, insisted that although he was disappointed with the loss, it would not be his last attempt at public office.
“I’m too young and good-looking (to stop now),” he said while sitting at the bar at Mark’s Prime Steakhouse. “You haven’t seen the last of Selwach.”
The winner of the April 13th run-off for mayor will replace current mayor Pegeen Hanrahan, who will fulfill her two-term limit in May.
Lowe, who would be Gainesville’s first openly gay mayor, said he has no intention of growing complacent despite his 11 percent lead.
“We’ll hit the ground running again tomorrow,” he said. “There’s no time to turn back to failed policies rooted in the past.”
After the results were announced, Angulo said he would endorse Lowe in the run-off, while Selwach pledged his support for Marsh. Cooper did not endorse either candidate.
Although Marsh hoped to avoid a run-off, he said he was encouraged by the results.
“I’m an optimist,” he said. “I had the crazy idea that lightning would strike, and it’d be over tonight.”
After the results were announced, Marsh and his supporters, including Alley, held a party at the Fraternal Order of Police Gator Lodge.
Marsh said his two biggest concerns are raising finances and reaching out to those who voted for Cooper and Selwach.
“We know what we need,” he said. “And we will leave no stone unturned in getting there.”
Alligator writers Alison Schwartz, Minch Minchin and Joey Flechas contributed to this article.
