June 06, 2007 04:01 PM UTC

One Surprise in Predictable Denver City Council Runoff

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Denver Post reports:

Carla Madison managed a come-from-behind victory Tuesday night to join Chris Nevitt and Paul Lopez as the newest members of the Denver City Council.

All three won runoff elections to fill vacant council seats.

Nevitt, in District 7, and Lopez, in District 3, managed comfortable victories with more than 60 percent of the vote. Both were their districts’ top vote-getters in the May 1 election.

Madison defeated Sharon Bailey for the District 8 seat with 52 percent of the vote. Bailey garnered 36 percent of the vote in the first round to Madison’s 28 percent in a four-person race…

Lopez garnered 62 percent of the vote despite being dogged by claims that he did not meet residency requirements.

“I’m honestly ready to start working on the issues now,” he said.

But opponent JoAnn Phillips said he will not be able to hit the ground running…

The Phillips campaign had complained to the Denver Election Commission about Lopez’s residency, only to be told the issue would have to go to court.

Asked about that Tuesday, Phillips’ campaign manager, Alfonso Suazo, said they are “looking into it.”