4 large area cities elect new mayors

With Fort Collins’ Jeni Arndt, Loveland’s Jacki Marsh and Longmont’s Joan Peck choosing not to seek re-election and Greeley’s John Gates term-limited, voters in four of the region’s largest cities elected new mayors Tuesday night.

Mayor pro tem Emily Francis survived Fort Collins’ six-round ranked-choice voting process, finishing with 52.35% of the vote to council member Tricia Canonico’s 47.6%. Voters were asked to rank the candidates from most to least favorite. The ballots were then counted in rounds. In each round, the candidate with the fewest votes was eliminated, and their supporters’ votes transferred to the next choice on their ballots. The rounds continued until one candidate, Francis, won by earning more than 50% of the votes.

Loveland will see an ideological shift in the mayor’s office, with Patrick McFall, generally a pro-development voice as opposed to Marsh’s skepticism, defeating challenger Troy Daniels 10,116 votes to 9,663.

In Longmont, Susie Hidalgo-Fahring won a four-way race with 39.55% of the vote while Shakeel Dalal finished second with 22.24%, Diane Crist came in third with 21.64% and Sarah Levison trailed with 16.57%.

In Greeley, mayor pro tem and Ward 2 representative Dale Hall was leading Tiffany Simmons 9,540 votes to 7,091.

For Broomfield, however, Tuesday night brought a chorus of “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” Mayor Gayleen Castriotta won another term, collecting 58.14% of the vote to challenger Kimberly Groom’s 41.86%.

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