Votes tallied Tuesday for Tempe Mayor left the city without a declared winner. Mike O’Neil, a pollster with O’Neil Associates, analyzes election results and whether Mark Mitchell can overcome Michael Monti’s slim lead.
O’Neil says Monti’s lead will be tough, but not impossible, to overcome, and Monti has probably won the election. O’Neil says elections in Tempe are usually genteel, and this particular race got dirty and may have left a bad taste in many voters’ mouths. He says the ultimate winner will likely only have about 49 percent of voters, and in terms of public popularity is a toss-up. O’Neil says Tempe should return to a nonpartisan attitude if the next mayor hopes to run the city successfully.