Rochester’s wide open mayoral race is now narrowed down to two candidates running against one another this fall: Joe Powers, a prominent catering business owner, and Jess Garcia, a psychologist and former school board member.
Eight candidates were vying for Rochester top office in Tuesday’s primary election after two-term mayor Kim Norton announced she wouldn’t run again earlier this year.
Powers earned nearly half of the votes cast in the city, while Garcia won about a quarter of votes. The other six candidates — which include the president of Rochester’s NAACP chapter and a former city council person — each received less than 10 percent of the votes.
Powers and Garcia will face off in the general election in November, and the winner will be tasked with guiding Rochester through a period of tremendous change.
Rochester is in the midst of massive years-long projects and the ensuing seemingly endless construction projects that come along with that. Mayo Clinic is building a $5 billion hospital downtown and the city is in the midst of a 20-year $5.6 billion economic development plan, known as Destination Medical Center — meant to make Rochester more attractive to visitors, including the patients who fly half way across the world to work with Mayo Clinic doctors.
Conversations around affordability in town seemed to have helped Powers and Garcia win enough votes Tuesday to advance to the general election. Both focused on the topic in their platforms, from fighting against property tax hikes to exorbitant child care costs, with a particular emphasis on affordable housing.
They differed in that Powers has proposed a larger focus on public safety, which includes investing in the Rochester Police Department, while Garcia is driving home the importance of city hall transparency.
The November election will determine which platform best resonates with Rochester residents.
Here are the final vote totals with 100 percent precincts reporting:
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48.92% – Joe Powers, a restaurant and catering company owner.
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24.45% – Jess Garcia, a psychologist and former school board member.
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7.97% – Walé Elegbede, Mayo Clinic project manager and president of the Rochester branch of the NAACP.
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7.22% Ben Zastrow, a small business owner.
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3.58% – Ayub HajiOmar, a substitute teacher in Rochester Public Schools.
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3.56% – Axe Abdimajid Ahmed, business owner
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2.54% – Molly Denis, former city council member.
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1.76% – Jerrod Lucker, a literacy tutor.
