Hafen is mayor!

By Mandy Walton

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 | 10:06 p.m.

I attended Councilman Andy Hafen’s election party tonight to await the results in the mayoral race. My family tree goes way back with the Hafens, and I wanted this more than anything for Andy. He has worked so hard.

As the tension in the room at the Henderson Convention Center was getting high, suddenly everything changed; “He won!” screamed the campaign manager. Everyone started cheering and screaming and I saw our new Mayor-elect Andy Hafen smiling in relief. Up at the microphone, Andy said that he won by a mere 45 votes.

“I couldn’t have done it without you all,” he said. “We had hundreds and hundreds of people helping us.”

The party was still a little shocked and relieved because a few minutes before, we were still waiting for a few more precincts to report, and we were behind by a little over 80 votes. Personally, I’m disgusted at the voter turnout. With almost 300,000 residents living in Henderson, 19,355 total votes in the mayoral election is quite low.

Still, I am so proud and happy that Andy Hafen will be Henderson’s mayor. He is someone you can count on to get things done. I have known him personally my entire life and he has always been caring, attentive, and knowledgeable about things going on in Henderson, as well as with people he personally knows.

“The City of Henderson definitely has some challenges ahead,” Hafen said during his acceptance speech.

I’m confident that there couldn’t be a better candidate to take our city through these tough times. Congratulations, Andy!