Kelly Submits Petitions for Mayoral Bid
Bryan Kelly has submitted petitions to qualify on the ballot as a candidate for mayor of Ann Arbor in the Nov. 4, 2014 general election. According to city clerk’s staff, Kelly submitted signatures on July 7. They have not yet been validated.
As a candidate not affiliated with a political party (i.e., an independent candidate), he has until July 17 to collect at least 50 valid signatures from each of the city’s five wards. Kelly took the petitions out on June 3, 2014.
Kelly is the only potential candidate so far who could oppose the winner of the Aug. 5 Democratic primary, which features four sitting city councilmembers: Sabra Briere, Sally Petersen, Christopher Taylor and Stephen Kunselman. No Republicans took out nominating petitions.
Updated July 9: According to the city clerk’s office, an insufficient number of valid signatures was submitted by Kelly and he will need to submit supplemental signatures in order to qualify for the ballot.
Updated July 15: According to the city clerk’s office, as of 9 a.m. this morning, Kelly had achieved enough signatures in Wards 1, 4 and 5, but staff were still processing supplemental signatures from Wards 2 and 3.
This is really good to see.
There is an excellent chance that the winner of the Democratic primary may only achieve 30-35% of the vote – in other words a plurality, but not a majority.
Christopher Taylor, the Hooper Hathaway attorney, is considered by most to be the “establishment candidate” strongly backed by Hieftje’s inner circle and other Democratic Party insiders.
One could envision Taylor winning the primary and a slew of those supporting the three losing candidates filing up behind Kelly.
On the other hand, the converse could be true. Someone like Steve Kunselman could be the primary winner and the Democratic Party insiders could back Kelly as an alternative.
I put a start of a page on Arborwiki about Bryan Kelly
[link]
It’s pretty sparse so far.