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Bradley Carter
Bradley Carter and Barbara Young will be the newest members of the OKC City Council after winning election in Ward 1 and Ward 3, respectively, Tuesday, April 6, 2021. (NonDoc)

Bradley Carter and Barbara Young are headed for the OKC City Council horseshoe.

Carter defeated Shay Varnell in the OKC Ward 1 race today, picking up 54 percent of the vote to about 45.6 percent for Varnell.

In Ward 3, Young edged out Jessica Martinez-Brooks. Young picked up 57 percent of the vote while Martinez-Brooks got 43 percent.

All election results are unofficial until certified by the Oklahoma State Election Board.

Both Carter and Young will take office April 13, ahead of the beginning of the city’s 2022 budgeting process. That budget will be considered by the council later this year, and the current 2021 fiscal year ends June 30. Oklahoma City’s most recent budget was $1.6 billion.

Carter ran promoting safe neighborhoods

Carter, who operates a local coffee business with his wife, ran on a platform that championed safer neighborhoods as facilitators for economic growth across the city.

“Without safe neighborhoods, we do not have the ability to grow communities in the real sense of the word,” Carter told NonDoc before the election. “It is a priority that we maintain and increase as needed funding for our police and firefighters. Public safety creates the framework for families to be able to be neighbors.”

Carter successfully navigated a field that began with nine candidates in the February primary election. Prior to Carter’s election, the Ward 1 seat had been held by James Greiner, who was first elected in 2013.

Young proposed immediate solutions

Six candidates ran in the February primary election for Ward 3, but Young was able to qualify for the runoff. She ran on a platform of fixing problems immediately for her southwest Oklahoma City ward.

“If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it 5,000 times: Ward 3 residents want their roads fixed, and they are tired of waiting,” Young said told NonDoc before the election. “(People are) tired of reading about new bike lanes and curbs and amenities in other areas of the city while we’re replacing tires and rims just trying to get to and from school and work. We need to be prioritized, and I’ll be a vocal advocate for that.”

The Ward 3 race was expensive. The two candidates raised a combined $156,000, according to a report in The Oklahoman.

Young will replace Larry McAtee, who had held the seat since 2001 but decided not to run for another term last year.

OKC Ward 3 candidates a contrast in vision

Infrastructure a common thread in OKC Ward 1 race