Why Caldwell Is Voting for Mayor Twice in One Month

You may recall that just weeks ago, we shared with you the details of Caldwell's Mayoral race, where controversial John McGee would be running for Mayor.

Disgraced John McGee Runs For Mayor of Caldwell

Up for re-election in 2023 on the Caldwell City Council, John McGee, a former State of Idaho lawmaker, is on the ballot for Mayor of Caldwell this fall. When McGee won his seat on Caldwell City Council in 2019, reaction outside of Caldwell felt slightly disappointed. In Caldwell, however, McGee won--fair and square. About 3,000 votes were cast for Seat 6 and McGee won 39.24% of these votes. Eventually, there was a run-off election, which McGee also won.

Now, with Election Day behind us and a clear winner for Caldwell's next mayor--residents and voters in Caldwell are going to be called BACK to the polls.

According to City Code in Caldwell, Idaho, a runoff election MUST be held between the first and second place candidates if a candidate in that race does not receive at least 50% of the votes cast.

Although the "winner" was clear in the Caldwell mayoral race, the leader, Jarom Wagoner only received 47% of the votes. Second place candidate John McGee had 22%, just over 10 more votes than third place candidate Chris Trakel.

Unfortunately, it's not that easy--in fact, it's impossible.

There is no way for the City Clerk to withdraw John McGee's name from the runoff ballot because of the rules in place for the Clerk from the State of Idaho-- that said, even if McGee conceded and asked to not participate in the runoff, he is going to need to be on the ballot anyway.

As you can see from the details above, the runoff election will be held on November 30th but early voting is also available, starting on November 15th