Lisa Brown is the projected winner of the Spokane mayoral race, the Spokesman-Review said Friday.
The newspaper made the call after the Spokane County Auditor’s Office released updated figures on Friday night. Brown now has a 2,764 vote margin over incumbent Nadine Woodward, a sizable increase from the 1,577 vote margin on Election Day.
There are just under 8,000 ballots left, but with more than 64,000 ballots already counted, the Spokesman-Review determined that Brown’s lead is insurmountable given how results have trended in the last several days.
“I’m very grateful to have been chosen by the voters to be the next Mayor of Spokane,” Brown said in a statement Friday. “Thank you to the volunteers and everyone who believed in our vision of a better way. I’m ready and excited to get to work for the city that we love.”
Woodward has not yet conceded. Leading up to election night, only two mayors — David Rogers in 1973 and David Condon in 2015 — had successful reelection bids in the last 40 years.
Brown will serve alongside a Spokane City Council that will retain its progressive majority. In other races:
- Betsy Wilkerson leads the Council President race with 53.28% of the vote to 46.37% for Kim Plese.
- Michael Cathcart was leading in the race for Position 1 on the Spokane City Council with 56.19% to Lindsey Shaw’s 43.08%.
- Paul Dillon leads for Position 2 on the Spokane City Council with 53.18% to Katey Randall Treloar’s 46.26%.
- Kitty Klitzke leads for Position 3 on the Spokane City Council with 59.47% to Earl Moore’s 39.85%.
Brown’s victory comes after a contentious mayoral race where the candidates butted heads on how to best tackle several key issues, including homelessness, rampant drug use and how to increase housing.
