Guardado, Garcia win Phoenix City Council seats in special election
May 24, 2019, 7:00 PM
(Cronkite News Photo/Samuel Leal, Facebook Photo/Carlos Garcia)
PHOENIX — The final unofficial results are in from Tuesday’s special runoff election for the Phoenix City Council seats in Districts 5 and 8.
Betty Guardado took District 5 with 62% of the vote, leading Vania Guevara by nearly 3,000 votes.
Carlos Garcia won District 8 with a smaller lead at 51%, topping Mike Johnson by about 400 votes.
Guardado will be replacing former mayoral candidate Daniel Valenzuela, while Garcia will replace current Mayor Kate Gallego.
The final results from city of #Phoenix Runoff Election.
District 5:
Betty Guardado 7,417 votes 62.49%
Vania Guevara 4,452 votes 37.51%
District 8:
Carlos Garcia 6,715 votes 51.47%
Mike Johnson 6,331 votes 48.53%
Full results on https://t.co/Dz5eMfnG6x #PHXElections pic.twitter.com/nAIahDlQjL— Phoenix Elections (@PHXElections) May 25, 2019
Guardado thanked voters in a Facebook post and said she will do everything she can to “keep earning that trust every day.”
While the final results are not yet in, I wanted to thank all of you who supported our campaign. I want to congratulate…
Posted by Betty Guardado for Phoenix City Council on Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Garcia announced his win in a tweet, saying he is ready to get to work.
WE DID IT! After a year and a half of hard work, we won!
Thank you to everyone who called, knocked, donated and supported us in every way possible. This is the community's win!
We're ready, Phoenix is Putting People First!#district8 #carlosgarcia #carlosforphoenix pic.twitter.com/szO64Hh3TH
— Carlos Garcia (@carlosforphx) May 23, 2019
The runoff election for these two spots was triggered in March, when none of the candidates got the majority of the vote.
The candidate who is elected to the District 5 seat will serve until April 29, 2021, while the District 8 candidate will serve until April 17, 2023.