2019 Columbia, Missouri mayoral election

The 2019 Columbia, Missouri mayoral election was held on April 2, 2019. Incumbent mayor Brian Treece successfully won re-election against former Missouri House member Chris Kelly. Kelly's run for Columbia mayor was the only unsuccessful electoral campaign of his career.[1]

2019 Columbia, Missouri mayoral election

April 2, 2019

Candidate Brian Treece Chris Kelly Popular vote 10,329 5,762 Percentage 64.19% 35.81%

Mayor before election Brian Treece Elected Mayor Brian Treece

Background

Chris Kelly, a former Democratic member of the Missouri House of Representatives, had previously expressed interest in running for the city's highest office. On October 29, 2018, Kelly officially announced his candidacy for Columbia mayor.[2]

Candidate petition filings for the municipal elections were open beginning October 30, 2018 and closed on January 8, 2019. Candidates running for mayor required the valid signatures of at least 100 registered Columbia voters.[3] Both incumbent mayor Brian Treece and challenger Chris Kelly filed their petitions on October 30.[4]

Campaign

Chris Kelly attracted controversy early in the race following the revelation that he had deleted thousands of tweets from his Twitter account days before beginning his campaign.[5] Screenshots of the messages were obtained by both Mayor Treece and the Columbia HeartBeat, with Treece describing the contents of the tweets as “misogynistic, racist, offensive and unacceptable."[6] Kelly responded to the accusations by claiming that the tweets were either jokes or taken out of context, while also stating in an interview “I sometimes have said things that I should not have said, and there’s no excuse for them."[6]

Polls

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Brian Treece	Chris Kelly	Undecided
Missouri Scout[7]	February 6–8, 2019	484 LV	± 4.4%	33%	41%	26%

Results

Brian Treece was re-elected mayor by a wide margin over Chris Kelly, winning the popular vote in 33 of the city's 35 precincts.[8]

Candidate		Popular vote[8]
		#	%
	Brian Treece (inc.)	10,329	64.19%
	Chris Kelly	5,762	35.81%
Total		16,091	100%

Aftermath

On election night, Chris Kelly called Brian Treece to concede the race, with Treece delivering his victory speech shortly afterwards.[9]

References

1. Cheyne, Marcelle Peters and Victoria. "Treece wins a second term as mayor with 64 percent of vote". Columbia Missourian. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
2. Richey, Lauren. "Kelly confirms he'll run for mayor of Columbia". Columbia Missourian. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
3. "Columbia City Council election petitions available for pick up, first day to file Oct. 30". www.como.gov. Retrieved 2020-09-05.
4. "Chris Kelly, Brian Treece file in Columbia mayoral campaign". KOMU.com. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
5. Keller, Rudi. "Kelly deletes tweets as he begins bid for Columbia mayor". Columbia Daily Tribune. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
6. Peters, Victoria Cheyne and Marcelle. "Kelly says Treece's concern about tweets is misguided". Columbia Missourian. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
7. Keller, Rudi. "Rude Awakenings: Poll shows Kelly leading Treece for Columbia mayor". Columbia Daily Tribune. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
8. "042019 Final Results Report by Precinct" (PDF). www.showmeboone.com. 2019-04-09. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
9. Staff, KBIA. "Kelly Concedes, Treece Reelected Columbia Mayor". www.kbia.org. Retrieved 2020-09-04.