An accumulation of campaign signs at a downtown Phoenix street corner

Two Phoenix City Council seats head to March 9 runoff

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Nobody won outright. That was the message from Election Night in Phoenix, where two open City Council seats — District 4 and District 2 — will now be decided in a runoff on March 9, the Phoenix New Times reported.

The city’s council races are nonpartisan, but that didn’t stop the contests from turning competitive. In District 4, six candidates battled for the seat of term-limited City Councilmember Laura Pastor, and Ed Hermes came out on top with 39.96% of the vote as of noon Wednesday. That’s a commanding lead, but not the majority needed to win the seat outright. Hermes, who is endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, trounced his main opponent, Ashley Harder, who sits in second with 12.73%. Both will now head back to the polls one last time.

The race to replace term-limited City Councilmember Jim Waring in District 2 is even tighter. The votes split almost evenly three ways. On election night, Danny Maza looked like the frontrunner and seemed headed for a showdown with Julie Reed. But by Wednesday morning, Matt Evans had overtaken them both, holding a 699-vote advantage. Reed, meanwhile, clings to a razor-thin lead over Maza — just 0.63%, a mere 160 votes.

Voters in Districts 6 and 8 returned their incumbents to office. Vice Mayor Kesha Hodge Washington and City Councilmember Kevin Robinson both won their races squarely, doing what incumbents typically do.

So the campaign signs accumulating at downtown Phoenix street corners tell only part of the story. For two seats on the council, the real contest begins again on March 9.

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