KEY WEST CITY COMMISSION DISTRICT VI
Clayton Lopez 50.45%
Ryan Barnett 49.55%
There will be a mandatory recount in the nonpartisan Key West City Commission race for the District VI seat between incumbent Clayton Lopez and challenger Ryan Barnett.
Lopez held onto the commission seat by just 19 votes on Election Night.
Supervisor of Elections Joyce Griffin said at 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 3 that there will be a mandatory recount. The canvassing board meets at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6 to examine any provisional ballots, according to the Monroe County Supervisor of Elections office website.
“We’ll take it,” Lopez told the Keys Weekly right after the votes were counted Tuesday night. “I just want to thank all the people who came out and supported me and recognized the value of my experience over the learning curve faced by a new commissioner.”
The morning after Election Day, on Nov. 4, Lopez told U.S. 1 Radio he wants to “continue to get our COVID numbers down as we focus on our economic recovery.”
City Commissioner Clayton Lopez has unofficially kept his District VI seat on the City Commission by a 19-vote margin. A mandatory recount is being conducted. CONTRIBUTED 
Supporters of Commissioner Clayton Lopez wave to motorists and pedestrians on Election Day from Simonton Street. MANDY MILES/Keys Weekly 
Supporters of Commissioner Clayton Lopez wave to motorists and pedestrians on Election Day from Simonton Street. MANDY MILES/Keys Weekly 
Political newcomer Ryan Barnett, holding a sign on Election Day, nearly unseated incumbent Commissioner Clayton Lopez in the District VI City Commission race. Results are unofficial pending a mandatory recount and certification of the election. MANDY MILES/Keys Weekly 
Lopez also said he wants to continue to work on the city’s affordable housing project.
“Talking about affordable housing in Key West is like talking about world peace in a beauty pageant,” but we have to get to work on this critical issue, he said.
Barnett said on the morning after Election Day that he hopes Lopez continues “to move the needle” in the city.
“There’s a lot of moving pieces, and Commissioner Lopez has been there for 15 years,” Barnett said. “I can only hope for the best with a lot of critical issues in District VI.”
One of those issues is the determination of what to do with 6.6 acres at Truman Waterfront that was initially destined to be a combination of housing above retail shops.
The District VI city race was the only one that went to a runoff election because none of the three initial candidates secured more than 50% of the votes in the August primary. That primary also included candidate John Wilson Smith, who garnered about 17% of the vote.
Other city races, all of which are nonpartisan, were decided in the August primary, when Mayor Teri Johnston defeated bar owner and former commissioner Mark Rossi. Commissioner Billy Wardlow defeated Kimball Ingram in the New Town District III race. The other commissioners either did not face challengers or were not up for reelection.
