POCATELLO — Pocatello voters sent a clear message Tuesday that they’re ready for change. Incumbent Mayor Brian Blad suffered a decisive defeat, earning just 14% of the vote.

None of the other six candidates received over 50% of votes, so the race will now go to a runoff election between Mark Dahlquist and Greg Cates. The runoff election will take place on Dec. 2.

Dahlquist received 40% of the votes with 5,153 ballots cast in his favor. Cates brought in 31% with 3,938 votes.

“I figured with the amount of candidates in the race that it would be just very unlikely to have someone (take) the first round,” Dahlquist told EastIdahoNews.com. “I’m thrilled and I’m super optimistic we can make this happen.”

“We went from seven candidates down to two, so now we’ve just got to figure out how we’r

See Full Page