‘She made some tough decisions’: McLean defeats Masterson for mayor. What they say

Follow live coverage of precinct results across Ada County here.

Boise’s mayor has yet to lose an election. On Tuesday, she extended the streak.

First-term Mayor Lauren McLean defeated a former police chief intent on unseating her in an election focused on her leadership and the city’s growth.

Mike Masterson conceded defeat just before 11 p.m. With all of the 106 precincts reporting, McLean won with 33,926 votes, 55.4% of the total, while Masterson had 26,542 votes, or 43.2%, according to unofficial results from Ada County.

Two other candidates in the race, Joseph Evans and Aaron Reis, had 0.9% and 0.3%, respectively.

“I want to thank the people of Boise for the responsibility you’ve given to me,” McLean told a jubilant crowd at the Lounge at the End of the Universe just after 11 p.m.

McLean’s supporters also celebrated the strong performances of the City Council candidates running on her platform.

“She made some tough decisions and the voters rewarded her for it tonight,” said Council Member Colin Nash, whom McLean appointed in April to succeed former Council Member Elaine Clegg, who resigned. Nash won with 4,086 votes, or 45.6% of the total vote.

“They gave her a City Council to keep this work moving, and that’s exactly what we are going to do,” Nash added.

He said that four years ago, when his family was unable to buy a home after he graduated from law school, McLean was the “only person talking about this.”

“Things are looking really, really good,” said Council President Jimmy Hallyburton, whose race was canceled this year because no other candidates registered to run against him.

McLean told supporters Tuesday’s race was about “who we are today, who we will be into the future.”

She highlighted building affordable housing, preparing the city for climate change and creating jobs as priorities.

“And yes, we will keep this city safe and we will continue to beat the odds,” McLean said.

Candidates aligned with McLean’s policies on housing and the city’s growth — Nash, Meredith Stead and Jordan Morales — won in races across the city, putting the mayor in a strong position to make policy for the next four years.

Just after 10 p.m., Masterson gathered with a group of dozens of supporters at his election night party at 13th Street Pub and Grill in Boise’s Hyde Park. Masterson said he felt like he “ran a good race.”

“It has been a hard-fought campaign,” Masterson said. “The voters have decided and spoken in a pretty clear fashion.”

“I said to myself a few days ago that I was at peace with myself,” Masterson told the Idaho Statesman. “I provided an opportunity to present a different platform and a vision for the city than the mayor had brought forward and brought it to the voters.”

Masterson thanked his supporters and campaign volunteers, saying their work in recent weeks “truly touched my heart.”

“My fallback job is that I can go back to being retired, and that is still the second-best job in a person’s life,” he said.

Evans congratulated McLean on her victory in a text to the Statesman, and said he appreciates the voters who “heard my voice through the massive PR campaigns run by the other two candidates and their supporters.”

Reis did not immediately comment.

Campaigns focus on growth, McLean’s record

In what has been a cloudy and wet November in Boise, both campaigns organized voter drives and door-knocking campaigns in recent days, hoping to turn out enough voters for an off-year election to tilt the results in their favor, and to control the direction at City Hall for the next four years.

This year’s election focused on Boise’s growth challenges as candidates staked their positions on where to allow for new growth and how to build more affordable housing. McLean leaned on her achievements, like rewriting the city’s building rules and using city-owned land to promote cheaper housing developments.

Masterson largely focused on criticizing McLean’s leadership, taking aim at controversies in the Police Department.

McLean, 48, served on the Parks Commission and the Planning and Zoning Commission before being appointed by longtime former Mayor David Bieter to the City Council in 2010. She ran unopposed in 2011 and 2015 and became council president in 2017.

In 2019, McLean beat Bieter, the longtime mayor, in a December runoff by a wide margin, earning two-thirds of the vote. About 46,000 people voted in that election.

Masterson came to Boise in 2005 from Madison, Wisconsin, to become police chief. He retired in 2015 and served as interim chief in 2019 and 2020.

At a news conference earlier this month, Ada County Clerk Trent Tripple said this year could see record turnout for an off-year election, based on the number of people who voted early.

“We’re higher than normal compared to 2019, a very similar municipal election,” Tripple said, adding that he expects 30-40% of registered voters to turn out.

As of Wednesday, 90% of absentee ballots requested had been returned, according to county statistics.

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