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Park City
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Successful Park City Primary Candidates Now Look Towards November Election

Mayoral candidates Andy Beerman and Nann Worel.
Park City Municipal
Mayoral candidates Andy Beerman and Nann Worel.

  

The top two mayoral candidates and top four candidates for city council in Tuesday’s primary in Park City advanced to November’s election.

 

Tuesday night was the first hard indicator of where Park City voters stand in the races for mayor and city council.

 

Current Councilor Nann Worel amassed 1,373 votes in her bid for mayor, and says she did not expect the margin she received.   

 

“You know, in these kinds of elections, you have no idea what to expect,” says Worel. “You just kind of have to wait till the vote comes back in and see if your voice resonated with the voters, and mine did. I’ve heard for a long time that people don’t feel like they’re voice is heard or welcome, and I think that resonated with people because I have a message of inclusivity.” 

 

Incumbent Mayor Andy Beerman had received 723 votes as of Wednesday afternoon, about half of Worel’s count. David Dobkin received 362 votes in his first foray into Park City politics and was eliminated from contention.

 

Beerman is hoping to secure a second term as Park City’s top elected official. In a written statement to KPCW he says, “The results were disappointing but this situation is not unfamiliar to me. I believe the results are a reflection of the lack of honest or in-depth dialogue leading up to the primary. I hope we can remedy this in the general election.”

 

He adds he will be taking a few days to reflect before commenting further.

 

Co-owner of Red Banjo Pizza Tana Toly was the top vote-getter of the eight candidates for city council with 1,337. She says she’s taking nothing for granted as she begins her final push to secure one of the open council seats. 

 

“I actually looked at today as day one to start again,” she says. “I know that I have to work for every vote that I had during the primary, those are not guaranteed to me, so I need to make sure all those people that did vote for me are wanting to vote for me in November again. Also taking a look at where I didn’t have a lot of traction, which neighborhoods I need to focus on. Also, I’d really like to be part of getting more people to register to vote.”  

 

Toly was followed closely by business consultant Jeremy Rubell, who amassed 1,234 votes. He says he is humbled by the support he has received and is looking forward to getting more in-depth on issues as the campaign progresses.

 

Tim Henney is the lone incumbent in the city council field after fellow Councilor Steve Joyce announced in March he would not seek a second term. If elected, Henney would serve a third term on the council.

 

Henney tallied 796 votes and has ground to make up if he is to catch either Toly or Rubell in November. He tells KPCW he is pleased to be moving on to the general election and is eager to go head-to-head with the other candidates over the next few months. 

 

Fourth place in the race for council went to high school basketball coach Thomas Purcell with 317 votes. 

 

Purcell says the result came as a bit of a surprise, especially dealing with a back injury in recent weeks that significantly impacted his ability to campaign. He was the only city council candidate to not participate in a community-led candidate forum earlier in August. He says he will focus on increasing his social media presence ahead of the general election and highlighting what he calls the “common sense issues” of daily life in Park City.

 

Park City Recorder Michelle Kellog says as of Wednesday, there are 47 outstanding ballots with signature issues and two provisional ballots yet to be counted. Additional ballots postmarked by August 9th that have not arrived yet may also be counted. The city will certify the election next week.

Sean Higgins covers all things Park City and is the Saturday Weekend Edition host at KPCW. Sean spent the first five years of his journalism career covering World Cup skiing for Ski Racing Media here in Utah and served as Senior Editor until January 2020. As Senior Editor, he managed the day-to-day news section of skiracing.com, as well as produced and hosted Ski Racing’s weekly podcast. During his tenure with Ski Racing Media, he was also a field reporter for NBC Sports, covering events in Europe.
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