Blad Beats Worley in Pocatello Runoff Election

By Greg Pruett • December 1, 2021

Current Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad has retained his seat in a runoff election against challenger David Worley.

Blad won the race by a margin of 56% to 44%. During the initial election, Blad had come in first place with 46% of the vote but failed to get 50% of the vote plus one, triggering the runoff with his second-place challenger Worley who had received 33% of the vote.

After the runoff results were announced, both candidates took to social media to thank the people who had voted for them.

Blad posted the following on his campaign Facebook page,

We did it! Thank you so much to everyone who supported my campaign for re-election. I appreciate everyone who took the time to vote again or vote for the first time in this run-off election.

Worley posted this on his campaign Facebook page after the results were announced,

Thank you to everyone who made this race possible.

Obviously the outcome of the election was not what we wanted, but all was not in vain. A movement among the people was formed. My name was on the ballot, but this election was about more than a contest between two men. It was a contest between two competing visions for American government.

We sought a return to the ideals of the American Founding and a path of fiscal responsibility, a future of freedom and prosperity.

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The Mayor and his allies fought bitterly for the status quo, government by and for the government. They succeeded in retaining power, but had to leverage the entire political establishment to do it. Even the Democrat Party had to come to Blad’s aid.

Blad may have won the election, but he still has no solutions for the policy problems we face. City spending is still unsustainable and taxes will continue to rise. The Biden administration is still radically expanding federal power and our state and local government still have no will or intent to resist in any meaningful way.

Next year is an election year for county, state, and national offices. The GOP primary is May 17th and for many offices in Idaho, whoever wins the primary wins the election. These elections are critical for the future of our county and state.

Now is the time build on our efforts, organize, and prepare to get back into the arena. To paraphrase the immortal words of John Paul Jones, we have not yet begun to fight.