Voters give Piercy a second term
EUGENE, Ore. -- Voters retained Kitty Piercy as mayor of Eugene, favoring her by barely 1,400 votes over former two-term mayor Jim Torrey.
With all the ballots counted, Piercy had 36,647 votes to 35,229 for Torrey.
Some ballots could remain to be counted, as Lane County ballots dropped off elsewhere in Oregon are returned and provisional ballots are verified. The 1,418-vote margin is probably too much for Torrey to overcome and is too big to trigger a recount.
Piercy was first elected mayor in 2004 and took office in 2005. She is a former state representative, serving in the Oregon house from 1995 to 2000.
The former teacher and Peace Corps volunteer ran on the motto "A Mayor for ALL Eugene" and a 12-point economic plan called "Building A Sustainable Eugene Economy--Creating Good Jobs and New Opportunities".
Piercy said her main focus during her four year term will be the economy, specifically working to bring green jobs and green technology to Eugene.
"That happens to be what our federal government is interested in and our state government in interested in, so I think we'll have opportunity to work with them and create some opportunities for our community that we can take advantage of and be really fun for us," Piercy said.
"I still feel there are a number of areas that need a lot of attention, the area of public safety, the ability to create good paying jobs in the community and making sure our roads are maintained," Torrey said.
Torrey said he'll continue his work on the Eugene School Board with a special focus on vocational training for students.
Torrey was mayor of Eugene from 1997 to 2005. He unsuccessfully ran for the state senate as a Republican against Democrat Vicki Walker in 2006. When asked if he would again run for mayor, he did not give a firm "Yes" or "No" answer.
Lead grew from single digits to 1,400
"It's been what -- 200, 300, 500, now 800 -- so it's been pretty steady and from my point of view, the right direction," Piercy said Wednesday.
Ballot counts were delayed by a crash in ballot-counting software on Election Day.
"We hope that it will change but if it doesn't, I'll have a whole bunch of time to be a full-time grandfather," Torrey said as he watched the returns Wednesday.
Both candidates said the message of national unity from Barack Obama and John McCain last night needs to extend to Eugene politics, no matter who wins.
"I really appreciated Obama's comments last night and I appreciated McCain's comments about the need to work together across our differences," Piercy said.
"We're going to have to make sure that regardless of who the next mayor is, that they are our mayor and we're going to have to reach out to them," Torrey said.
