Amarillo elects two new councilmembers with 2 races headed to runoff
The city of Amarillo elected two new councilmembers Saturday night in Places 2 and 3, electing Don Tipps and Tom Scherlen to those positions, respectively, with the two other council positions headed to a June 24 runoff election.
In Place 2, Don Tipps won a dominating 83% of the vote over his two opponents, Misty Vigil and Gabriel McHenry-Herrera. Tipps received more votes than any candidate in any race in the election, with 17,042 votes. Vigil received 1,790 votes, and Herrera received 1,499 votes.
“It feels great; I am just grateful for all the Amarillo voters coming out and voting for me like this,” Tipps said. “I am ready to hit the ground running and start working on the city.”
Tipps said he is just excited to start work for the city and talked about his council expectations. He said he has worked with many city entities to be ready to take office and get a good idea of what the city needs.
“People can expect transparency and communication from me,” Tipps said. “I am ready to get into office and be done with campaigning to work for the city. I want to help change the culture moving forward with what needs to be done.”
Place 3 had Scherlen receive 58.2% of the vote, with Katt Massey a distant second with 34% of the vote. Overall, Scherlen received 11,996 votes, with Massey getting 7,702 votes. John Adair finished a distant third in the race with 1,500 votes.
“I have been working for the last four years many times against the city council and many times with the city council trying to represent the people,” Scherlen said. “I think with tonight’s vote, the people of Amarillo have spoken that they are ready for a change. They are ready to see a new type of government in this city. I think they are looking forward to a government by the people for the people, not just a government above the people.”
Scherlen said that he hopes the citizens are clear about what they want for the city in the upcoming year. He stressed that he does not want the council to just talk about issues for the next two years; he wants them to get stuff done to benefit the city. Public safety will be Scherlen’s top priority for the council.
With his previous run for election in 2021, Scherlen said that he learned a lot from that experience that he felt helped him in this race.
With six opponents in the field, not including one who dropped out, in Place 1, Randall County firefighter Josh Craft received the most votes with 43.2% of the vote, with Amarillo businessman Dean Crump coming in second with 33.1% of the vote. Craft ended up with 8,936 votes in a crowded field, with Crump receiving 6,834 votes on the night.
Kelsey Richardson garnered 2,088 votes to finish third, which made up 10% of the vote. Margie Gonzales and Chip Hunt got 6.3% and 4.8%, respectively. Both Craft and Crump will be headed to a runoff election.
Former Amarillo-Globe News publisher Les Simpson finished well ahead of his three challengers in the Place 4 race with 45.2% of the vote, with former mayoral candidate Claudette Smith taking in 24%. John Ingerson finished third with 15.8%, with Hobert "Gunny" Brown finishing just behind him with 14.7% of the vote.
Overall, Simpson received 9,189 votes to Smith’s 4,980 votes, with both heading to a June runoff election; Ingerson got 3,218 votes and Brown got 2,996 votes.
Overall, every candidate that Amarillo businessman Fairly endorsed either won their city council election or moved to the runoff, with each receiving the most votes in their respective elections.
The city of Amarillo will have a special counsel meeting to canvas its votes on May 16 to make them official.
Other Amarillo area elections
The Amarillo Board of Regents reelected incumbents Jay Barrett and Michelle Fortunato with 24.70% and 20.57% of the vote, respectively. Irene Hughes became the only new member elected to the board with 23.5% of the vote.
Three new board members were added to the Amarillo Independent School Board, with Jon Mark Beilue leading the voting with 27.6%. Also making the school board were Steve Trafton with 21.45% and Connie Brown with 16.51%.
In the closest race of the night, Place 2 Katheryn Weigand won Place 2 for the Canyon Independent School District by 42 votes. Weigand garnered 50.3% of the vote to win over Jodi Davis, who received 49.7%.
In Place 1, Paul Blake ran unopposed. Casey Posey won a close race over Jared Wirt in Place 3 with 37.85% of the vote to Wirt’s 30.6%. In another close race, Laurie Gilliland won in Place 7 over Tiffany Rogers, who received 40.19%.
Read more about these school board races and other election items in Tuesday's print edition.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Scherlen and Tipps win Amarillo council spots others headed to runoff
