As of Tuesday night, Ben Nadolski leads Taylor Knuth by 936 votes in the race to become Ogden’s next mayor. Nadolski, a current Ogden City Council member, garnered 54.8% of the vote, while Knuth, a political newcomer, sits at 45.2%.
The winner will replace current Ogden Mayor Mike Caldwell, who said he would not seek a fourth term. Caldwell has served as mayor for the last 12 years.
At Nadolski’s election night watch party hosted at Ogden’s Copper Nickel, dozens of supporters gathered to cheer on their candidate of choice and congratulated him on the preliminary results. Kids ran around as Nadolski hugged nearly every supporter who approached him. When the first batch of votes dropped, Nadolski said “the whole room cheered.”
“I don't know if anybody cheered louder than me and my wife and my daughters, but it was an exciting moment,” he added. “It was just a rush of emotion.”
While Nadolski is ahead, he hasn’t claimed victory yet. But he is “thrilled” with the initial results of the election.
“It's double what most people expected or projected,” he said, referring to his lead. “We'll wait for the rest of the numbers because everybody's vote counts. So I want to make sure that we respect that and we'll celebrate now and then.”
Counting is still underway. Ricky Hatch, Weber County Clerk, estimates Knuth would need roughly 3,000 additional votes to get ahead of Nadolski.
“I don't see a way it could flip,” he said.
Knuth hasn’t conceded. In a statement to KUER, Knuth’s campaign said “there are thousands more ballots to be counted, and no matter the outcome, it is an honor to be a part of the democratic process.”
After the first batch of results was made public, Ogden City voter turnout sat at 30.7%. Hatch said 86% of the votes cast county-wide have been counted. The remaining batch of votes for Ogden mayor are expected to drop Wednesday night. The clerk is expecting voter turnout to hover around 45% for this election.
Turnout has been lower than expected, Hatch said, especially “given the open mayoral seat.”
Nadolski has served on the city council since 2016 and leaned on that political experience in his pitch to voters.
“It helped me understand the issues as to what challenges we have ahead and what the solutions are going to be,” Nadolski said. “I'm not naive to how hard those challenges are going to be because I have that experience.”
If he’s victorious, Nadolski said he would focus his attention on affordable housing, infrastructure improvements and strengthening the city’s economic development.
In the primary election, Knuth led Nadolski by 168 votes, receiving the most votes out of seven candidates. He now finds himself trailing in a race where his priorities — affordable housing, public safety and environmental sustainability — found some overlap with his opponent.
If the count swings Knuth’s way, he will be the first openly gay person of color to lead the city. Growing up in a single-family household and becoming a first-generation college student, Knuth frequently noted on the campaign trail that “people like me are not meant to run for public office.”
The election results will be certified no later than Dec. 5.
