Runoff Election Likely In Phoenix City Council District 5, District 8

By Mark Brodie
Published: Wednesday, March 13, 2019 - 9:28am
Updated: Wednesday, March 13, 2019 - 1:22pm

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Kate Gallego is Phoenix's new mayor-elect as of Tuesday night, but poll watchers know there were two other ongoing races — elections for City Council District 5 and District 8 — both of which had no lack of candidates.

Mayoral candidates Daniel Valenzuela and Kate Gallego resigned as council members to run for mayor, which freed up seats in District 5 and District 8, respectively.

Early results in District 5 show ​Betty Guardado leading with 35 percent of the vote. The next closest challengers, Audrey Bell-Jenkins and Vania Guevara, are separated by just 114 votes.

In District 8, Carlos Garcia is leading with about 28 percent of the vote, while candidate Mike Johnson has 22 percent of the vote and ​Lawrence Robinson has 20 percent.

Four people were running in District 5 and seven people were running for District 8, but neither of the races provided a clear victor, meaning no candidate got 50 percent plus one. 

Bill Scheel, partner at the firm Javelina, spoke with The Show to explain what happened.

election results screen shot
Early Phoenix election results posted on phoenix.gov on March 13, 2019.

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