A week of counting ballots from Buckeye's city council elections has ended and the result is one new face on the city council and a potential run-off election in November.
District 3 Councilmember Election
After a close race with incumbent Michelle R. Hess, Curtis Beard will now represent District 3. Hess has served on the city council since 2012 and was beat by only 36 votes.
- Curtis Beard: 51.02% - 778 votes
- Michelle R. Hess: 48.66% -742 votes
Beard said he is learning the ropes and preparing himself for his new city council role through education on the responsibilities and technicalities of being a councilmember.
“One is just to take the time to learn everything that I can before I start making the choices and it might be the wrong choice so I need to learn all that and how everything works. And small businesses and the citizens are first,” he said. “There are a few things I’d like to work on, but I need to get the information on them first to make sure that’s something I could do.”
He thanked voters for their support and effort: “Thank you guys very much for the votes and we all did it.”
InBuckeye has not received a call back from Hess as of this morning.
District 2 Councilmember Election
Because no candidate reached the 51% threshold of votes, the seat for District 2 appears to be set for a run-off November election between Jamaine Berry and Ryan Belshee. City of Buckeye PIO Dan Bronis said the City Clerk’s office has requested the election go to a runoff and is awaiting confirmation. If this becomes the case, Bronis said the county would manage the election with some assistance from the city.
“According to the state statute, that is going to be a runoff because no one got that 51%,” he said. “We are waiting from the state to situate that and the county to confirm that.”
Jamaine led the primary against Ryan Belshee, Ted "Tedy" Burton and Steven Sterling, who withdrew his bid.
- Ryan Belshee: 27.42% - 235 votes
- Jamaine Berry: 38.27% - 328 votes
- Ted "Tedy" Burton: 21.35% - 183 votes
- Steven Sterling: 12.60% - 108 votes
Primary leader Berry expressed gratitude to voters and said he is shifting his campaign focus in preparation for the anticipated run-off election.
“I’m just thankful that everyone voted for me and sees the vision going forward,” said Berry. “I’m going to refocus—a lot more campaigning and I’m knocking on doors and talking to people.”
Belshee said he feels “cautiously optimistic” for the run-off and is planning on continuing his campaign through practical methods such as involvement with downtown development and pet rescue efforts. Although he ran his primary campaign on a $1,500 donation, he anticipates some fundraising will be needed for the fall election.
“We are excited that we got a lot of good support and had a lot of good conversations,” Belshee said. “We feel hopeful that we can win this thing in the run-off in November, really getting these plans the city has been working on into action. … To be able to go to the November election is pretty cool and I appreciate that.”
Mayor, District 1, and Prop 481
Incumbent Mayor Eric Orsborn and District 1 incumbent Councilmember Tony Youngker won his city council seat uncontested.
Proposition 481 passed with approval from nearly 80% of voters. The final results are below:
- Yes: 79.87% - 9,373 votes
- No: 20.13% - 2,363 votes
[Editor’s note: The original story read that Berry won the District 2 city council seats. Because neither candidate met the 51% threshold, however, it appears that the election will go into a run-off in November]
One Response
I believe district 2 will be a runoff in November, as no one reached the minimum 50% threshold.