Denton school administrator Kevin Roden cruised past four other candidates to win the open District 1 City Council seat Saturday, while three sitting council members won another term.
Voters elected Roden, 36, to replace the retiring Charlye Heggins in District 1 in central and southeastern Denton. Incumbents Dalton Gregory in District 2, Jim Engelbrecht in District 3, and Chris Watts in District 4, each defeated a challenger to secure re-election, according to complete but unofficial results.
District 3 challenger Mike Sutton, 57, a coffee shop owner, said he planned to ask for a recount after losing by only 29 votes. He said a poll watcher counted 252 votes in his district Saturday, while results from the Denton County elections administration show 241 were cast.
"I'm not conceding the election," Sutton said. "The bottom line is we need to be sure … that they [voters] get their voices heard. If I lose by one vote after the recount, I'll concede."
In District 1, where Heggins is reaching her term limit, Roden received 66 percent of the 441 votes cast. Account executive Gerard Hudspeth, 38, won nearly 32 percent of the vote, while independent broadcast journalist Eliborio "Eli Gemini" Beltrán, 44, college instructor Damon J. Bullock, 36, and paralegal Timothy Wayne Morrow, 39, split the remaining 2 percent. Morrow withdrew from the race in March but missed the deadline to withdraw from the ballot.
Roden said he accomplished his goal of attracting new voters to the polls and increasing turnout. He said he believed voters responded to his focus on livability, including neighborhood preservation and making Denton more welcoming to walkers and cyclists.
Hudspeth, who lost to Heggins in the District 1 race four years ago, said he simply failed to get the vote out. Roden outraised and outspent Hudspeth, his primary opponent, by nearly 2-to-1 and used social networking sites Facebook and Twitter as tools to reach voters.
"All in all, it was a well-run race," Hudspeth said. "He [Roden] just executed."
Bullock and Beltrán could not be reached for comment.
In District 2, which covers northeast Denton, Gregory defeated challenger Zoro Gomez Jr. with 81 percent of the 532 votes cast to secure a second term. Gregory, 59, a retired school principal, said he believed voters responded to his support for continuing to implement the 1999 Denton Plan, especially "under-addressed" issues such as pedestrian and bicycle accommodations.
Gomez, 18, a college student, called the race a "good practice run" and said he was pleased by the number of people who supported him.
"I'll be back," he said.
In District 3 in northwest Denton, Engelbrecht defeated Sutton by a vote count of 278 to 249 to win a second term, barring a successful recount. Engelbrecht, 63, a retired marketing specialist, attributed the close result to his lack of spending on campaign materials and advertisements.
In a second term, Engelbrecht said he's eager to focus on finishing the city's gas well ordinance review, increasing funding for street repairs and adding more accommodations for pedestrians and cyclists.
In District 4, which covers much of southern Denton, Watts easily secured a third term, defeating information technology systems manager Derrick Murray with 72 percent of the 629 votes cast.
Watts, 50, a lawyer and real estate investor, said he would continue his focus on neighborhood preservation, economic growth and prioritizing spending.
Murray, 39, said he was pleased with his support and was planning another council run in 2013, when Watts will reach his term limit.
LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com .
