Colorado Springs Mayor's Race Goes To Runoff Election
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Voters in Colorado Springs will pick a mayor in a runoff election next month after none of the six candidates won majority support in the election that ended Tuesday.
Former state Attorney General John Suthers and former Colorado Springs Mayor Mary Lou Makepeace were the two top finishers.
Suthers got 46 percent of the vote and Makepeace received 24 percent in unofficial results released Wednesday. They will compete in the May 19 runoff election, which will also be conducted by mail.
Suthers, who has also served two terms as district attorney in Colorado Springs and led the Colorado Department of Corrections, told The Gazette he did better than his most optimistic projections.
"Based on polling, we were expected 40 percent at most," he said.
Makepeace said she anticipated the race going to a runoff.
"John is a strong candidate, and I am a strong candidate. I say let the next five weeks begin," said Makepeace, who served 12 years as a city councilor before being elected the city's first female mayor in 1997.
Both Suthers and Makepeace were the two top fundraisers in the race. Suthers brought in more than $340,000 and Makepeace raised $88,000.
Municipal elections were also held Tuesday in Fort Collins, where Wade Troxell was elected mayor.
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