Stanley Defeats Powell, Tipps and Scherlen Elected

Stanley and supporters at watch party | Photo by Noah Dawson

Councilman Cole Stanley was with a crowd of supporters at a packed Hodgetown watch party when he learned he would be the next Mayor of Amarillo. Stanley, who was first elected to the council following a heated open race in 2021, campaigned on a platform centered on offering an alternative to big government and high taxes. Support was buoyed by many who felt the rest of the council, including second-place finisher and fellow Councilmember Freda Powell, had ignored the will of voters on issues including the City Hall project and ill-fated Civic Center Complex renovation tax hike.

Stanley was initially reluctant to enter the race. Before announcing his candidacy, he had echoed calls for businessman Alex Fairly to run for Amarillo’s top elected office. The calls for Fairly to run came as a result of his lawsuit which halted the city’s plans to issue tax notes to fund renovations to the Civic Center Complex. Fairly initiated his lawsuit based on claims the city had not given proper notice of the item and that the voters had rejected a similar proposal in 2020.

Despite a public campaign pressuring Fairly to run, he decided not to seek election. He instead called on Stanley, who had cast the sole vote against the tax note issuance, to run.

Fairly’s support of Stanley’s campaign caused some controversy, with Mayor Ginger Nelson bringing accusations related to contributions made to Stanley’s campaign by Fairly during a meeting of City Council. The move seemed to only solidify support for Stanley among many voters, some of whom characterized the accusations as a “witch hunt.”

As of writing, according to unofficial results, Stanley was at 75% of the vote. Powell had 18%. Retired manager Don Collins had 3%, entrepreneur Tonya C. Winston had 2%, and truck driver Sam Burnett and life/consciousness coach Jeffrey McGunegle each had 1%.

Insurance agent Don Tipps had the biggest victory on election night, having won 84% of the vote. Misty Vigil earned 9%, while Gabriel McHenry-Herrera won 7%.

Retired businessman Tom Scherlen won the Place 3 election to replace outgoing incumbent Eddy Sauer, having won 58% of the vote. Katt Massey won 34% of the vote in that race, while John Adair got 7%.

While Amarillo City Council is set to meet next Tuesday, the council is not expected to officially canvass the results and swear in the winners until the following Tuesday to allow the counties to finalize vote totals.