Seven candidates have been announced in the Erie Town Council race, where a seat in each of the town’s voting districts will be decided in this year’s election season.

Bob Braudes and Andrew Sawusch will run in District 1, where Councilmember John Mortellaro’s term is expiring. Mortellaro will not run for another term, despite being eligible.

Dipak Basnet, Delaney Dreckman and Ben Hemphill will run for the District 2 seat, where current Mayor Pro Tem Brandon Bell is term limited and will give up his seat in January.

Councilmember Brian O’Connor of District 3, with a term also expiring in January, will run to keep his seat against Amy Becker.

The candidates for the Nov. 3 election were listed on the Erie elections webpage this week, after a Monday deadline for nomination petitions with at least 25 signatures from voters to be filed with the town clerk’s office.

Erie straddles the border between Weld and Boulder counties. A map of the town’s voting districts is available on its home rule charter webpage at tinyurl.com/ErieHomeRule.

The November election could be a shakeup for the Erie Town Council, which, last sworn in January 2025 alongside Mayor Andrew Moore, has in several high-profile instances been split by 4-3 votes.

Councilmembers were split in a June 2025 vote to prohibit Pride flags from being flown on town-owned flagpoles, a lawsuit settlement over land known as Redtail Ranch, and more recently in a decision to approve a sale of town-owned mineral rights to oil and gas operator SM Energy — which has since been abandoned by the company. The council was also split in a December vote to approve an agreement with the consultant who negotiated the now-scrubbed deal with SM Energy, and council members showed division last fall when deciding what to do with a town-owned parcel of land in the Old Town area known as both the “Village at Coal Creek” and the “Page Property.”

Moore, Bell, O’Connor and Mortellaro have voted or sided together on those issues, opposite Councilmembers Anil Pesaramelli, Emily Baer and Dan Hoback.

Erie residents will in November also have a say on two local tax measures: a sales tax to fund the expansion and renovation of the Erie Community Center, and a lodging tax for short-term rentals and hotel stays in the town.

The Daily Camera and Colorado Hometown Weekly will continue coverage of November’s election.