Anna Stonehouse/The Aspen Times
If there was any sea change to note from the results of the past two months of city of Aspen elections, it is that the three incumbents were unable to clinch their desired offices.
“This election very much defined a shift in what the populace wants in its representative government,” said Aspen mayor-elect Torre on Wednesday. “It’s a call for change.”
Torre won by 343 votes in Tuesday’s runoff election against sitting councilwoman Ann Mullins. He beat her by 341 votes in the March election, but they both failed to get a majority vote, which forced them into a runoff per the city’s home rule charter.
Mullins, who has two years left on her second term, initially also went up against sitting councilman Adam Frisch and political newcomer Cale Mitchell for the mayor’s seat.
Frisch, who is term-limited after serving eight years on council, came in third. Mitchell came in last place.
And councilman Bert Myrin, who is finishing his first four-year term, came in third for the bid to fill one of two vacant seats.
Instead, Skippy Mesirow, a newcomer to elected office, and Rachel Richards, a veteran politician who has served on council, has been mayor and recently a county commissioner, were picked by the majority of voters.
Councilman Ward Hauenstein, the only elected official who didn’t run for office that will be continuing to serve for the next two years, said Wednesday it’s difficult to really know why people voted the way they did; exit polling may provide a glimpse.
He acknowledged that some ways of doing things — mostly how the city communicates and engages with the public — should change.
But whether that fundamental problem is why the incumbents didn’t make it through the election is unclear.
“If I was running for office, I would probably get kicked out too,” Hauenstein joked. “I can’t look into people’s minds and have a crystal ball to know why they voted how they did.
“Maybe it’s just how the planets and stars are going through the universe.”
When conducting an unscientific poll leading up to the March election, The Aspen Times asked various residents their thoughts on how they were voting.
“A lot of us old-timers want a change so we are going rogue,” said one longtime local who is in their 70s. “I just want things to go a little smoother and have things get done.”
Torre, who has spent the past three and a half months campaigning on the current council’s failures, said it’s time to move on and look to the future.
Hauenstein, who beat Torre in a 2017 runoff for a council seat, agreed.
He said he looks forward to working with a new council.
“You go with what you got,” Hauenstein said.
The council’s focus should center on getting the public engaged in a positive manner rather than fighting City Hall, he added.
“(But) I don’t know how,” he said, noting that he tried by eliminating part of the problem and subsequently asked former city manager Steve Barwick to resign in December.
“I want to be more positive than negative,” he said. “We need the citizens to be proactive and less negative.”