Even with some ballots possibly still to be counted, one Chandler mayoral candidate had a significant-enough lead over his opponent the morning after the July 21 election that both made statements that declared the margin insurmountable.
Matt Orlando held nearly 18-point lead over Jeff Weninger in the first batch of Maricopa County Elections reporting after the polls closed. Orlando, the longtime City Council member, earned 18,170 of the first 31,291 votes reported.
And while Orlando’s margin was about the same the following morning, when nearly 39,000 votes were in. Orlando and Weninger both posted to social media to declare the race was over.