ST. GEORGE — Voters in southern Utah's largest city gave St. George Mayor Dan McArthur a whopping victory for his fourth term in office on Tuesday.
Challenger Jacqueline Capon, owner of a historic bed and breakfast inn, was defeated in her first bid for public office by a margin of 3,211 votes (34.89 percent) to McArthur's 5,991 votes (65.11 percent).
"This tells me that we're doing the right thing," said McArthur after claiming victory late Tuesday. "It also tells me we have some wounds that we need to heal and work on."
Voters also were convinced that incumbents Suzanne Allen and Gail Bunker deserved another term on the St. George City Council, giving 4,661 votes to Allen and 4,863 to Bunker.
Challenger Ed Baca, who lost a bid for City Council four years ago, was denied again this year, garnering 3,690 of the votes cast. At 24 years old, Benjamin Nickle came the closest to unseating an incumbent with 4,309 votes in his favor. Nickle campaigned hard, pushing his slogan that St. George residents were ready for a fresh, new perspective on the City Council.
A ballot initiative that would have divided the City Council into districts also failed. All three challengers argued in favor of the initiative, saying it would provide residents with better representation than the current at-large seats.
McArthur, Allen and Bunker were vocal in their opposition to the idea of breaking the city into five equally populated sections.
In Iron County, Cedar City Mayor Gerald Sherratt, with two precincts left to be counted late Tuesday, appeared to be headed for an easy victory. Sherratt had 2,086 votes to his challenger Ernest Miller's 266 votes cast.
Miller's conviction 17 years ago on a felony drug charge raised the question of whether he could legally take office if he won the election. Cedar City Attorney Paul Bittmann said Utah election law was vague on that point and needed clarification.
With two seats to fill on the Cedar City Council, incumbent Joe Burgess was trailing challengers late Tuesday with his 1,320 votes. Nina Barnes had 1,478. Jolene Goff had 1,424 votes.
E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com