Mayor’s write-in win makes Auburn election history
AUBURN — Mayor John Jenkins won re-election Tuesday, becoming the first person in Auburn history to win a citywide election as a write-in candidate.
“You made history,” Jenkins told supporters when the results arrived around 9:45 p.m. “This has never happened. You did it.”
He won an overwhelming victory, taking the lead in each of the city’s five wards. The final vote was Jenkins: 2,166, Eric Samson: 1,305 and Fred Sanborn: 514.
“I’ll have other opportunities,” Samson, a two-term city councilor, said late Tuesday.
Sanborn said he questions the legality of the vote, and particularly City Clerk Mary Lou Magno’s decision to count write-in votes for Jenkins that do not include his address, 34 Ryans Way.
But Jenkins, 55, was characteristically optimistic as he celebrated with his supporters, who met at Gipper’s Restaurant in Auburn.
“This is a victory for the citizens,” he said. “I happen to be the person who was brought along by the everyday people.”
After all, he did little campaigning until the final days of the election
“I didn’t paint a sign,” he said. “They did all the work.”
Jenkins completed two terms as Lewiston’s mayor and a term as a state senator when he took office for his first term as Auburn’s mayor in December.
He promised a more open, inclusive government.
He held city council meetings in each ward as a way to reach out to neighborhoods. And he brought back spring trash pickup.
Jenkins still seemed like the newly minted mayor of Auburn when, nine months into his term, he announced that he would be unable to run for another.
The role of mayor took too much time away from his day jobs, he said, often more than 35 hours a week.
“Gone are the days when you just showed up and cut ribbons and shook hands and kissed babies and facilitated the council meeting,” Jenkins said last month. “The mayor is now expected to have some understanding of transportation issues, finance, you name it. The citizens expect full-time results from this part-time position.”
Citizens asked him to reconsider. As they became more dedicated, Jenkins relented. As long as they were all right with him spending less time at city hall, he was willing to serve again, he said.
By September, he was back in the race.
[email protected]