Voters oust Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad; runoff now set between two challengers

POCATELLO — Pocatello voters sent a clear message Tuesday that they’re ready for change. Incumbent Mayor Brian Blad suffered a decisive defeat, earning just 14% of the vote.

None of the other six candidates received over 50% of votes, so the race will now go to a runoff election between Mark Dahlquist and Greg Cates. The runoff election will take place on Dec. 2.

Dahlquist received 40% of the votes with 5,153 ballots cast in his favor. Cates brought in 31% with 3,938 votes.

“I figured with the amount of candidates in the race that it would be just very unlikely to have someone (take) the first round,” Dahlquist told EastIdahoNews.com. “I’m thrilled and I’m super optimistic we can make this happen.”

“We went from seven candidates down to two, so now we’ve just got to figure out how we’re going to gain the support of the other voters whose candidate didn’t make it tonight,” Cates said. “We’ve got 30 days.”

Blad could not be reached for comment.

The other four candidates were Steve Brown, Nate Kessel, Alana Leonhardy and Carta Sierra “Idaho Law/Idaho Lorax.” Brown received 1,485 votes, Kessel had 123 votes, Leonhardy received 214 votes and Idaho Law had 47 votes.

In the race for Seat 4 of the city council, incumbent Dakota Bates ended the night with the most votes, with 51%. His other two opponents, James Bucci and Jim Young, earned 15% and 34% respectively. Bates had 6,127 votes, Bucci received 1,740 and Young got 4,046 votes.

For Seat 5, candidate Stacy Satterfield unseated incumbent Linda Leeuwrik with 29% of the vote to her 22%. Jeremy Marley got 22% with 2,663 votes and Keven Lewis received 27% with 3,281 votes.

Candidate Ann Swanson won the race for Seat 6 against Melissa Hartman, with 58% of the vote to 42%. Swanson received 7,010 votes and Hartman got 5,083 votes.

Voter turnout in Bannock County was up this year compared to the last odd-numbered election year in 2023. That year, EastIdahoNews.com reported that voter turnout was 29.4%. According to the Bannock County Elections office, voter turnout this year came out to 39%.

Blad became mayor of Pocatello in 2010. After 15 years, he will leave office.

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