Kitty Piercy will keep her seat as mayor of Eugene, beating out former two-time mayor Jim Torrey.
“We are so happy, but we’re exhausted as well,” Piercy Campaign Manager Mary Van Noy said.
Piercy led Torrey by 1,465 votes as of Thursday evening, when Lane County Elections officials turned off the building lights for the night. Only 79.6 percent of the vote has been counted, leaving nearly 7,000 votes uncounted.
“We expected it to be a close race, and we ran it as a hard fought race,” Van Noy said.
The number may seem large enough for Torrey to hold strong through another long night, but the incumbent’s lead has been growing larger throughout the day, causing the former mayor to throw in the towel.
“I called Kitty (Piercy) and congratulated her on her victory,” Torrey said. “There’s not a thing I could have or would have done differently.”
During Piercy’s first term as mayor she advocated sustainable economic and business growth in Eugene. In the primary election, neither Piercy nor Torrey garnered 50 percent of the vote and the general election was similarly close.
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