In the end, it wasn’t even close.
Republican Paula Hughes will face Mayor Tom Henry this fall after dominating a five-person field for her party’s nomination. Not only did she take the most votes, but she took a majority of the Republican votes cast in a race with three legitimate contenders.
Hughes won with 9,245 votes – 55.7 percent – compared with 4,189 votes for City Councilwoman Liz Brown and 3,031 votes for businessman Eric Doden, according to unofficial election results. Long-shot candidates Fred Osheskie and Terrence Walker finished with fewer than 100 votes each.
The former Allen County councilwoman said she was stunned with the result but noted it was the one she was working to obtain. By winning a majority of the votes, she said it sends a message that the party is behind her and will be united come fall.
Allen County GOP Chairman Steve Shine said he wasn’t surprised with the result, even the margin, saying Hughes ran the most aggressive campaign of the favorites. She has been campaigning for more than a year.
“She ran an extremely professional campaign,” Shine said.
She accepted the party’s nomination with a throng of supporters wearing red “Hughes for Mayor” T-shirts chanting her name at the Republican Party celebration Tuesday evening.
In her speech, she noted some considered her the underdog in the race – a poll released last week showed her in a dead heat with Brown.
She said she was an underdog when she won her seat on the County Council and likely will be one this fall against Henry, but she relishes the challenge.
Hughes wasted no time in criticizing Henry, saying he represents wasteful spending and no clear policies.
“In a Hughes administration, we’re going to start cutting from day one,” she said, noting her plans to cut the mayor’s salary, the take-home vehicle and the city’s debt.
Henry declined to discuss Hughes directly, saying his campaign this fall will focus on ideas intended to promote economic development and careful budgeting.
He touted his ability to maintain a flat budget without slashing city staff or services.
“I’m going to continue to go after the issues most important to the citizens of Fort Wayne,” he said.
The Democratic mayor handily won his party’s nomination against four long-shot hopefuls, none of whom garnered more than 350 votes. Henry won 4,387 votes, or 86 percent of those cast – a number Henry said he was pleased with winning.
Brown and Doden were both gracious in defeat on Tuesday, saying they were proud of their efforts.
They offered their support to Hughes.
Despite spending far less than the other two front runners, Brown said she was pleased with her campaign and did not believe her lack of formal advertising cost her the race, adding that she thought that some of Hughes and Doden’s efforts were unnecessary.
She said she did not know what to expect coming into Election Day – she was the only one of the three candidates not to do any internal polling.
“I was hopeful, but I wasn’t overconfident,” she said.
Brown said she will continue to serve her council term this year and looks forward to running Henry’s budget hearings in the fall.
She said she hasn’t begun thinking about her political future as she has a prom and graduation in her family to worry about first.
Doden said he was glad he was able to run a positive campaign based on ideas. He said although he had no political experience, his internal polling showed he at least had high name recognition among voters. He said Hughes’ victory really came down to effort.
“Paula worked really hard and she’s to be commended for that,” he said.
Doden said he wouldn’t rule out another political run, but he said he truly enjoys working in the private sector.
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