Incumbent John Doyle and newcomer Christine Benedetti won seats on the Aspen City Council during a runoff election on Tuesday.
Doyle garnered 1,225 votes and Benedetti won 1,318 votes. Turnout was 37%, lagging slightly behind the March 4 general election, but was higher than some past runoff elections; 2,243 people cast ballots in the April 1 runoff out of 6,131 registered voters. In the March 4 election featuring a mayor’s race, a six-candidate field for the two council seats and two referendums related to the entrance to Aspen, 2,718 people voted.
Benedetti, who wrapped up her first-ever campaign for elected office, said the experience got her to engage with the Aspen community in a new way.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the community and the way it’s showing up in all sorts of ways, from a lot of the volunteers that I worked really closely with who put in hours for me to just getting stopped on the street and getting asked questions or ideas,” she said. “I learned a lot about Aspen and I’m thankful for people showing up and voting.”
Benedetti moved to Aspen nearly 20 years ago, and in her almost two decades in the Roaring Fork Valley she has served on several boards and commissions. She has served on the Wheeler Opera House board, the Aspen Historical Society board, the Early Learning Center board and the Aspen Planning and Zoning Commission.
Throughout the campaign, she said her experience as a community representative made her stand out from other candidates. She also campaigned as a voice for families that she said is missing at the council table, advocating for improving access to child care in Aspen.
Doyle spent the final hours of Election Day knocking on doors in the snow, trying to get last-minute voters out to the polls. He missed the threshold to avoid being part of the runoff by just 32 votes in March, but narrowly defeated Emily Kolbe by 84 votes on Tuesday to win re-election.
He sought a second term on city council after first being elected in 2021. He serves on the boards for the Community Office for Resource Efficiency, Colorado Association of Ski Towns, Colorado Municipal League, Nordic Council, Pitkin County Board of Health, Aspen-Pitkin County Housing Authority and the Ruedi Water and Power Authority.
Doyle first championed himself as an environmental steward, a platform he maintained throughout his second campaign.
He said he is looking forward to working with Benedetti and incoming mayor Rachel Richards at the council table.
“I’ve worked with Rachel before and she and I work together quite well,” Doyle said. “I am looking forward to this new council working with Christine, I think we have an opportunity to really do some great things.”
Both Benedetti and Doyle said Tuesday night that their main priority after swearing in is to move ahead on the entrance to Aspen. During the election, Benedetti said she would follow the will of the voters, who approved a referendum in March that gave a thumbs-up for the Colorado Department of Transportation to potentially use Marolt Open Space for a new Highway 82 alignment into Aspen.
“I know a lot of people came out and voted for me because I said that I would help move (the entrance to Aspen) along,” Benedetti said. “I think, with Rachel as mayor, we’re ready to get started on that.”
Doyle said he wants to make “positive movement” on the entrance.
“To me, it means getting some shovels in the ground,” he said.
Kolbe, a first-time candidate and longtime local, garnered 1,141 votes. In the March 4 election, she was the second highest vote-getter, behind Doyle.
As a business owner, she said she wanted to serve as a voice for local businesses on city council, a voice she said was missing from the table.
Kolbe said she wanted to improve mobility into and around Aspen, enhance small-town charm by supporting local businesses and restoring Armory Hall into a community gathering space, and optimize affordable housing.
“I’m really grateful for everyone who supported me, I’m really grateful for the community and how much information they shared with me, the support,” she said. “The strength of our community to come together and make good decisions, we’re in good shape.”
Mayor Torre trailed far behind in the count with 540 votes — fewer votes than he got in the March 4 municipal election (825).
He rejected the thought that the low count might correlate to any specific voter sentiment.
“I am so proud of where we are as a community and I think voters recognize that,” he said. “ I don’t think there’s any overriding mandate here.”
He said he will remain focused on the issues as he transitions out of public office.
“I want to reinforce the ‘modified split shot’ as a potential for the Entrance to Aspen. I want community space to be really considered more in the Armory redevelopment,” he said by phone Tuesday night. “I want our housing program to look at HOA and capital maintenance program funding, and I want to continue to work on our community health.”
Torre won his first term as mayor in 2019 and served three consecutive terms, meeting the city’s term limit. He served multiple terms as a city council member, and was first elected in 2003.
District 1 Pitkin County Commissioner Patti Clapper is term-limited in her seat, which will be open to newcomers in the 2026 November general election. The district she represents splits Aspen and includes much of the county east of the city.
Torre, who lives in the county’s District 1, said running for that seat is “definitely a possibility.”
“I enjoy public service,” he said. “I definitely see an opportunity to work on behalf of a greater community from Aspen and beyond.”
Campaign spending
Kolbe outspent and outraised each candidate by more than $10,000 over the course of the campaign. She raised $28,000 from February to the end of March and spent $23,249, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Aspen City Clerk.
Her donors included councilmen Bill Guth and Sam Rose, several members of the Our Parks Our Open Space group that supported Referendum 1 in March, and former mayoral candidate Katy Frisch.
She also received an endorsement from Elizabeth Milias on her blog “The Red Ant,” where her latest issue urged people to “bullet vote” for Kolbe — voting only for one candidate instead of two.
Benedetti raised $12,455 and spent about $9,000 throughout the course of the election. Guth and Rose also donated to Benedetti’s campaign, and vocally supported her and Kolbe at council meetings.
Richards, a former Aspen mayor and councilwoman as well as a Pitkin County commissioner, endorsed both Benedetti and Doyle.
Doyle raised $9,841 and spent $7,859 throughout the election. Torre raised $145 and didn’t report any spending.
Richards, Doyle and Benedetti will be sworn in during the Aspen City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 8.
