If early voting numbers hold, the NIMBY incumbents on the council may be in for a rough night.
In the mayor’s race, Charles Francis squeaked into the lead with 36 percent of the votes, but Mary-Ann Baldwin is only a half-percent behind him.
That half-percent accounts to only 66 votes out of over 14,000.
Caroline Sullivan trails with less than 20 percent of the vote, despite being the lead fundraisers in the mayoral race.
In the council races, the biggest upset seems to be in District E, where challenger David Knight trounced incumbent Stef Mendell with 62 percent of votes to her 38 percent.
Another surprise came in District D, where challenger Saige Martin snagged nearly 53 percent of the vote over incumbent Kay Crowder’s 34 percent. Crowder may have lost votes to newcomers April Parker and Brittany Bryan, who netted a total of 14 percent together.
In the at-large race, Nicole Stewart is the early frontrunner with nearly 35 percent of the votes. Russ Stephensen and Jonathan Melton are neck and neck, at 23 and 20 percent, respectively.
David Cox starts with a clear lead of 60 percent, but only 2,000 residents voted early in District B, so anything could happen.
In District A, Sam Hershey inched ahead of Patrick Buffkin with 46 percent of the vote to Buffkin’s 44 percent.
Corey Branch seems certain to win back his seat with over 60 percent of the votes in his favor.
Here’s the full early voting totals:


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