The Duluth City Council president and a former boxing promoter will face off in the November election for mayor after getting the most votes in Tuesday's primary.
Councilor Emily Larson captured 67 percent of the votes, with 5,456 people marking her name. Former boxing promoter and businessman Chuck Horton came in second with 1,505 votes, or nearly 19 percent. The two emerged from a field of eight candidates for the open seat.
Larson, who owns a business working with nonprofit organizations, is focusing on extending the city's positive momentum to all neighborhoods and growing the local economy. She has been active on several boards, including the Duluth Economic Development Authority, Visit Duluth, the Great Lakes Aquarium and the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission.
Larson, 42, said that her campaign has worked hard to make direct contact with voters and that Tuesday's results were "a great affirmation that we're moving in the right direction."
Horton, a military combat veteran who recently went to school to study chemical dependency counseling, is emphasizing what he calls "outrageous" property taxes, crime, and crumbling roads and sewers as projects he would tackle instead of bike paths and dog parks, according to his website. He said he wants to focus on kids and on making Duluth as good on the inside as it looks on the outside.
Horton, 49, said that he was "humbled" by the results of Tuesday's vote. "I feel like, with the Duluth voters, my message is resonating."
The winner of the November election will succeed popular two-term mayor Don Ness, who isn't running for re-election.
