Young lawyers held the edge for two open east-side Salt Lake City Council seats, and voters retained incumbents in two other contests, according to Tuesday’s unofficial election results.
In the capital’s most hotly contested race, attorney Chris Wharton led Phil Carroll, an affordable housing developer, in the District 3 duel to succeed two-term incumbent Stan Penfold, who did not seek re-election.
Wharton had 55 percent of the vote at night’s end to 45 percent for Carroll.
“We‘re not taking anything for granted, but so far I feel really good,” Wharton said about an hour after polls had closed.
Carroll said he believes as many as 2,000 more votes remain to be counted. Turnout so far in the district stood at 40 percent — the highest in the city — but Carroll anticipates the final showing to top 50 percent.
“It doesn’t look really good,” he said, “but there’re enough votes out that I’d like to know what it looks like in a day or two.”
| Courtesy of Amy Fowler Amy Fowler, a candidate for Salt Lake City Council.
In District 7, public defender Amy Fowler defeated Abe Smith, a technology specialist, in the matchup to succeed Lisa Adams, who is leaving office after one term.
Fowler had 63 percent to Smith’s 37 percent in Tuesday’s final tally. Preliminary turnout was 34 percent.
“I am so incredibly excited, honestly,” Fowler said. “We have worked so hard over the last five months and I am excited to get to work. Literally — not kidding — here at our watch party, three constituents, as soon as [the numbers] came out, came over and said,’OK, can we sit down and talk?’”
Smith said he reached out to Fowler by email around 8:30 to offer his congratulations.
“We worked extremely hard. I’m really happy about the campaign,” he said. “I’m extremely proud of the bipartisan support that we had. I truly enjoyed knocking on people’s doors and saying hello.”
In District 5, first-term incumbent Erin Mendenhall earned another four-year term, besting community activist George Chapman, 84 percent to 16 percent, with 29 percent turnout.
“The numbers look great,” Mendenhall said. “I’m honored and feel just about as humbled as I did four years ago when I was a newcomer.”
| Courtesy Erin Mendenhall Salt Lake City council member Erin Mendenhall has been named to the Utah Air Quality Board.
First-term District 1 incumbent James Rogers ran unopposed.
In August’s primary, Wharton, 33, edged the 73-year-old Carroll by just 52 votes of out nearly 3,500 cast between them.
Both candidates cited housing affordability as a top issue. The district includes the Avenues, Marmalade, Capitol Hill and Federal Heights.
Fowler nearly doubled Smith’s vote total in the primary. The candidates, both 39, also cited housing as a top concern in addition to homelessness and transportation issues. The southeast district covers Sugar House.
Mendenhall, 37, cruised in the primary by capturing nearly 74 percent of the vote before taking on the 66-year-old Chapman in District 5, covering central Salt Lake City, including the Liberty Wells and Liberty Park areas.
Rogers, who won his District 1 primary with 78 percent of the vote, ended up running opposed in the general election after the second-place finisher dropped out.
His northwest district covers the international airport and neighborhoods that include Rose Park and Westpointe.
Council members serve part time and earn a base salary of $25,525. Three others, Andrew Johnston (District 2), Derek Kitchen (4) and Charlie Luke (6), face re-election in 2019.
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