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Sugar House will see four more years of Councilman Soren Simonsen.
After a recount Friday, the Salt Lake City Council District 7 incumbent held his nail-biting lead over challenger Lisa Ramsey Adams. The now-official margin: 12 votes.
"It's closer than I wanted," Simonsen said this week. "I knew six or eight weeks before the election, it was going to be a very challenging campaign."
Simonsen said he has great respect for Ramsey Adams, who nearly doubled the incumbent's campaign bankroll, and would welcome her serving the city in some role.
During a second term, he intends to again emphasize public transit, smart growth and air quality.
"The things I've been passionate about the last four years largely haven't changed," Simonsen said. "I do sweat the details. I think they're important."
The result solidifies Tuesday's election canvass in which all remaining absentee and provisional ballots were counted and certified. At the end of that process -- in which more than 350 additional ballots were tabulated -- Simonsen maintained a 13-vote lead. He led by nine on Election Night.
While election results have been reversed by a canvass, county officials note an outcome never has flipped after a recount.
Just in case, Ramsey Adams waited for Friday's recount before offering Simonsen her congratulations.
"She has no regrets," said Ramsey Adams' campaign manager, Steve Simos. "We felt like we ran a fabulous race."
The result brings finality to a feisty campaign in which both candidates leveled attacks at his or her opponent. The race also featured an unusual mini-mutiny, as three of Simonsen's council colleagues -- Carlton Christensen, Jill Remington Love and J.T. Martin -- endorsed Ramsey Adams.
Still, Simonsen insists relations in the City Council Chamber will not be strained.
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