Bobbi Buchli has been elected to Gilbert Town Council.
Her opponent, Bill Spence, conceded the runoff election in an emailed statement Wednesday afternoon that also was posted on social media.
Buchli has been slowly extending her lead over the past few vote drops. As of Wednesday night, she led Spence by 1,168 votes and 50.35%-48.89%.
“I am very excited,” Buchli said. “I was fairly confident all the way through that, that I would win, but I worked really super hard. I was out every day since March.”
Buchli said she would like to see more stability on council, making reference to Tuesday night’s raucous meeting that was interrupted by residents multiple times and went into recess once because of it. She said she will work toward that first.
“We need to get control, and I think that would be probably my number one thing is to try and have everybody get together and see what we can do to maintain some control in there,” she said.
In his statement, Spence thanked the 39,000 people who voted for him.
“While ballot counting is still in process, my team and I are disappointed to report that we will likely come up just a little short,” he wrote. “I am proud to have run an election with integrity and honesty.”
Spence wrote that he will continue to serve the people of Gilbert, support the veterans community and public safety teams.
“I wish Ms. Buchli the best of luck in her new role,” he wrote. “As always, I encourage each and every one of you to find your passion and serve your community in ways that bring you joy and fulfillment. God bless our amazing town and our country.”
Spence finished fourth in the primary, 628 votes ahead of Buchli but short of what was needed for outright election, sending the two to a runoff. Appointed incumbent Yung Koprowski and newcomers Jim Torgeson and Chuck Bongiovanni received enough votes to be elected.
Buchli said she turned the tide from the primary by talking to voters daily.
“No one saw my opponent at anything, and perhaps he was at some, I don't know, but I didn't miss anything,” she said. “If I got invited to something, I was there, and I interacted with the voters on a daily basis.”
Buchli, a real estate broker, was in her first run for office.
Spence, a retired U.S. Navy lieutenant commander, previously served on council for five months as an appointee to replace Eddie Cook, who had resigned in February 2020 to take the Maricopa County assessor’s office, but was defeated for election to complete Cook’s term that August by Laurin Hendrix.
Buchli, Torgeson and Bongiovanni will take office Jan. 10.
After Wednesday’s drop, there were 109,419 votes cast with a turnout of 67.78%. The undervote — people who did not vote for either candidate — was at 30,408.
Tom Blodgett Senior News Editor | Gilbert @sp_blodgett
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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