Mayor’s Race Close. Handy and Ortiz Winning

The Eugene mayor’s race is looking razor close, and Rob Handy has a small lead over incumbent County Commissioner Bobby Green.

With a rough estimate of 60 percent of Eugene votes counted at 9 pm, Kitty Piercy trails Jim Torrey by 36 votes. County elections reports Piercy with 47.74 percent of the vote and Torrey with 47.85 percent.

Both candidates need at least 50 percent to avoid a runoff in November. Conservative Nick Urhausen has 2.26 percent. Jim Ray has 1.4 percent.

Handy leads Commissioner Green by about 1.5 percentage points. Handy has 47.38 percent with Green at 45.87 percent. Both need to cross the 50 percent threshold to avoid a runoff.

Eugene City Councilor Andrea Ortiz is handily beating challenger John Crane. Ortiz has 59 percent to Crane’s 40 percent. Crane has reported a record breaking $25,500 in donations to his campaign, mostly from development interests.

The EWEB board appears about to take a greener, more progressive turn. Three candidates endorsed by Eugene Weekly—Joann Ernst, Bob Cassidy and Rich Cunningham—enjoy comfortable leads.