Boulder City Council election results

Wow, go to bed with it mostly counted, wake up to some real movement in places 3 – 5. Ok, first off a big thank you to everyone who ran. You put yourself out there in front of everyone and had to take a lot of grief. Campaigning is a contact sport and you all did yourselves proud.

So last night around 10:30 it was:

1. Suzy Ageton – 15.12%
2. Matt Applebaum – 11.94%
3. George Karakehian – 10.35%
4. K.C. Becker 10.26%
5. Macon Cowles – 10.14%
6. Barry Siff – 9.22%
7. Tim Plass – 8.92%
8. Jyotsna Raj – 8.71%
9. Fenno Hoffman – 7.47%
10. Valerie Mitchell – 3.28%
11. Kevin Hotaling – 1.80%
12. Rob Smoke – 1.76%
13. Seth Brigham – 1.02%

And this morning it's now:

1. Suzy Ageton – 14.71%
2. Matt Applebaum – 11.94%
3. Macon Cowles – 10.32%
4. K.C. Becker 10.28%
5. George Karakehian – 10.08%
6. Barry Siff – 9.19%
7. Tim Plass – 8.95%
8. Jyotsna Raj – 8.85%
9. Fenno Hoffman – 7.57%
10. Valerie Mitchell – 3.45%
11. Kevin Hotaling – 1.80%
12. Rob Smoke – 1.81%
13. Seth Brigham – 1.06%

So in counting the final ballots, Suzy & George dropped and Macon as well as the rest of the freeze in amber team rose at their expense. If the Clerk's office can tell us where the final ballots came from, that would be interesting. I see a couple of interesting things out of this:

1. Incumbency remains a powerful advantage.
2. A Sierra Club/PBC endorsement is no longer a guarantee. Tim & Jyotsna both did well, but they did not win.
3. The difference between 5^th and 6^th is 0.89%, and between 5^th and 8^th is just 2.51%. There's a pretty even balance in Boulder between the freeze in amber and embrace the future crowds.

Boulder will continue to bounce along as it always has. For those that hoped for a giant change in direction – didn't happen. On the flip side, for those that hoped for a strong endorsement for stopping new development – that also did not happen. The big message is we have two groups with roughly equal political backing. And that is really good because it will force both sides to work together to find compromises in the middle. (Of course in Boulder the "middle" is what most cities would call far left – so things remain good.)