By Anna Lynn WinfreyJosué Perez | SOURCE: THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Heather Graham appears to be the next mayor of the city of Pueblo.
She took a decisive lead in the first round of unofficial results posted by the Pueblo City Clerk’s Office Tuesday evening and incumbent Mayor Nick Gradisar called Graham to concede.
Graham was up by nearly 6,000 votes with over 22,500 counted when the first batch of unofficial results were reported just before 7:30 p.m.
She said those initial results showed that the “people of Pueblo have spoken.”
“I feel relieved to know that the city of Pueblo will now move in a different direction,” Graham told the Chieftain.
Gradisar joked that he was looking forward to being a “has been” but congratulated Graham on her victory.
The race between Gradisar and Graham, who came out on top in the first round of voting in November, was the second-ever mayoral runoff election held in recent history.
The city charter requires a runoff election if a candidate does not receive more than 50% of votes in the first round of voting, but Graham and Gradisar emerged from the crowded field of nine initial candidates. Both had been running their campaigns longer than most of the other mayoral hopefuls.