Joe Haughey and Sara Presler will compete for mayor May 18.

The Flagstaff elections held March 9 brought victories for the Flagstaff Unified School District (FUSD), Joe Haughey, Sara Presler and six city council candidates while dealing defeats to Kara Kelty, Dan Frazier and Stephen Knutson. The results leave two candidates — councilmember Haughey and incumbent Presler — vying to be Flagstaff’s mayor, and six candidates — Art Babbott, Scott Overton, Celia Barotz, David Evans, Bruce Kennedy and Dave Arendt — chasing after three open city council seats.

Meanwhile, just four months after they were defeated in November’s election, FUSD finally won the votes for its budget override, which will provide up to $8 million in extra funding from the tax payers. The victory comes in anticipation of future cuts from state funding.

Haughey received the most votes, with 4,214, or 34.92 percent. Presler received 3,963 votes, or 32.84 percent. Kelty received 3,844 votes, or 31.86 percent.

“I feel pretty good about [the results],” Haughey said. “I’m excited about looking toward the general election. I had a real peace about it. I think the voters take very seriously their vote.”

Haughey said now that some candidates have been eliminated from the race, he hopes they will aid him in the general election.

“Certainly I’m gonna look for the support of the other opponents,” Haughey said.

With only 119 votes separating Presler and Kelty, Fred Solop, NAU’s director of political science, said the results do not necessarily reflect on any particular candidate.

“Either one of those candidates could have won the election,” Solop said. “It will be interesting to see where Kelty’s votes go. One factor that comes into play is what Kelty does now.”

“I’m thankful to the Flagstaff voters and I’ll continue working for them,” Presler said. “We ran a campaign of integrity. It’s a real honor to receive the votes that I did.”

Presler said there will be “philosophical and practical differences” between her and Haughey.

“Joe’s a nice person but he’s not the right person for the job,” Presler said. “We will continue walking door to door, and as mayor I’ll be at City Hall tomorrow. Voters will have a clear choice.”

Haughey agreed the differences will be clear.

“I have much more experience than [Presler] does,” Haughey said.

Kelty was unavailable to comment.

“My hat’s off to [Kelty],” Haughey said. “I wish her the best of luck. She certainly has the potential to serve the community. Now just wasn’t the right time. But she ran an excellent campaign.”

In the city council race, the eliminated Frazier and Knutson both received less than seven percent of the votes each. About six percent separated third and fourth place, which is the cut off for winners in the general election.

“The folks that didn’t make it in are less known in the community,” Solop said. “I think we can say the people in the top are in a strong position going into the general election.”

Also on the ballot, the Flagstaff Unified School District won its push for a budget override after a similar measure was rejected in November. The “Yes” vote for the budget override received 54.19 percent of the votes.

“[FUSD's increased approval] is a difference in campaigning,” Solop said. “It’s a difference in information. It’s a difference in organization.”

The mayoral and city council elections will conclude with the general election to be held May 18.

Check out the Flagstaff Votes profiles of Haughey and Presler.
Follow the links for the council candidate profiles: Scott Overton, Bruce Kennedy, David Arendt, Celia Barotz, Art Babbot or David Evans.