So far, Bristol has almost 45% of the votes, and her competitor Clint Scherf has nearly 55%.
Bristol has served as the mayor of Grants Pass for the past four years and survived a recall attempt against her last fall, while Scherf previously served on the city council.
Scherf wrote on his campaign Facebook page on Tuesday, "Elections day is finally here. Everyone needs to Vote, your vote matters. Get your ballots into a Dropbox today. Thank you to all for your support. I am very confident that our community has voted for change."
Bristol wrote on her professional Facebook page on Wednesday, "Last night鈥檚 results weren鈥檛 what I had hoped for, but I respect our election process, and it鈥檚 clear that Grants Pass voters want a change in city leadership. Best wishes to Clint Scherf and the new city council. I hope you will make good decisions for the future of our community."
Both candidates agree on the main problems facing the city: homelessness, public safety and economic development.
But Bristol says she has the knowledge and experience to keep moving forward, while Scherf says the city needs new leadership.
Perhaps the biggest talking point during Bristol's tenure has been the homeless crisis. Homeless residents filed a lawsuit against the city in 2018, before Bristol was mayor, claiming the city was trying to run homeless people out of town. That case was appealed up to the U.S. Supreme Court. In June, the Supreme Court sided with the city, upholding its ban on public camping.
But that doesn鈥檛 mean the homeless crisis has gone away. Grants Pass has since created two temporary city-owned campsites for homeless people, in order to comply with a state law that says rules regulating where homeless people can camp must be 鈥渙bjectively reasonable," although that term isn鈥檛 specifically defined.
Bristol has been endorsed by the county Democratic Party, while Scherf has been endorsed by the county Republican Party, even though the mayor is a nonpartisan position.
Almost all of the eight city council candidates, who are vying for four nonpartisan seats, have also been endorsed by county political parties.
Preliminary results show the city council is on track to have some new blood.
So far, Republican-backed Indra Nicholas is beating incumbent, Democrat-backed Brian DeLaGrange with about 52% of the votes compared to his 47%.
Republican-supported Victoria Marshall is on track to beat Democrat-backed Jay Meredith, about 55% to about 44%.
And preliminary results show Republican-backed Kathleen Krohn is beating incumbent, Democrat-backed Vanessa Ogier, about 45% to almost 36%. Mark Kelsey trails in third, with about 18% of the votes in that race.
The fourth seat will be filled by Erich Schloegl, backed by the county's Republican Party, who ran unopposed.
