Portland voters chose three new members of the City Council on Tuesday in an election that will help shape city leadership for years to come.
But one race won’t be settled until a ranked-choice runoff is held Wednesday morning.
District 1 City Council candidate Anna Trevorrow defeated Sarah Michniewicz by a vote of 1,985 to 1,652. In the race for District 3, Victoria Pelletier defeated Jon Hinck by a vote of 2,168 to 1,477.
However, the four-way race for an at-large seat ended Tuesday night with no winner after none of the candidates collected more than 27 percent of the votes. Portland uses ranked-choice voting to elect local candidates. When no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, an runoff must be conducted and voters’ second and third choices determine a winner.
A city spokeswoman said early Wednesday morning that the race was so close that election officials wanted to conduct the runoff in the morning before declaring a winner. The instant runoff is expected to begin around 8 a.m.
After counting the initial votes, Roberto Rodriguez led the at-large contest with 5,553 votes or 26.6 percent. Brandon Mazer had 5,280 votes or 25 percent. Travis Curran had 4,776 votes or 22.8 percent. And Stuart Tisdale had 3,480 votes or 16.6 percent. About 8 percent of ballots did not have any candidates chosen in the at-large race.
The council races and a ballot question about Portland homeless shelters helped to drive a steady turnout of voters at the city’s polling places Tuesday. In addition, an unusual two-way school board race was being closely watched after the city declared that an incumbent who announced her withdrawal from the race remained a viable contender and could be declared the winner anyway.
All three veteran City Council incumbents up for re-election decided to step down, opening the door for newcomers to fill one-third of the council seats at a time of transition in city government.
Along with the departing incumbent councilors, the city manager and police chief also have stepped down. The city also is in the midst of a review of the city charter, which could lead to a vote next year on proposals to fundamentally change the structure of city government and the roles of the council, mayor and manager.
The four at-large candidates were seeking to fill outgoing Councilor Nicholas Mavodones’ seat on the council. Curran, 35, is a server and retail manager at Maine Craft Distilling who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2019. Mazer, 35, is an attorney and chairman of the planning board. Rodriguez, 42, owns an urban farming business and is serving his second term on the school board. Tisdale, 68, is an attorney and retired history and government teacher at Cheverus High School.
In District 3, Pelletier, a 33-year-old special projects coordinator at the Greater Portland Council of Governments whose focus is on racial equity and economic development, bested Hinck, a 67-year-old attorney and former at-large city councilor and state representative, in the race for outgoing Councilor Spencer Thibodeau’s District 2 seat representing the West End and Parkside.
And in District 1, Trevorrow, a 39-year-old medical malpractice paralegal at Norman, Hanson & DeTroy serving her third term on the school board, defeated Michniewicz, 50, a self-employed seamstress who has led the Bayside Neighborhood Association for four years, for outgoing Councilor Belinda Ray’s District 1 seat representing Bayside, Munjoy Hill, the Old Port and the islands..
Meanwhile, Nyalat K. Biliew won an at-large seat on the school board. Biliew finished third in a three-way race for an at-large seat last year and ran on a platform that includes ensuring students of color have a safe space to learn and have their voices heard.
Biliew got 9,169 votes compared to 8,318 votes for incumbent Sarah Thompson.
Thompson announced on Oct. 5 that she was dropping her re-election bid because of an increasingly divisive political environment. But city officials said her votes would be counted and she remained a viable contender because she signed, like all other candidates, a pledge not to withdraw.
Two other school board races were unopposed. Board Chair Emily Figdor ran unopposed for her District 2 seat and District 1 incumbent Abusana Bondo ran unopposed to retain her seat.
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