Yemi Mobolade, a businessman and immigrant from Nigeria, won a runoff election on Tuesday and was declared the city of Colorado Springs’ first Black mayor after defeating Republican Wayne Williams.
John Suthers, a former Colorado attorney general and independent with no prior political experience, will be replaced by Mobolade. Mobolade ran against 11 other candidates in the April 4 election, but a run-off was required because no candidate received a majority of the vote.
The mayoral race is nonpartisan, according to KRCC, although Colorado Springs, the second-largest city in Colorado, is well known for being Republican and conservative. Since Colorado Springs started electing mayors, Mobolade will be the position’s first non-Republican occupant.
“This is our win. We are Colorado Springs. It’s a new day in our beloved city,” Mobolade said in a speech Tuesday night after his victory. “Colorado Springs will become an inclusive, culturally rich, economically prosperous safe and vibrant city on a hill that shines brightly,” he said.
Mobolade, a Nigerian native, co-founded The Wild Goose Meeting House and Good Neighbors Meeting House after relocating to Colorado Springs in 2010. Mobolade, a married father of three who began a career in quality control manufacturing, is highly recognized across the city’s business scene. In addition to opening the eateries, he served as the Colorado Springs Chamber and Economic Development Corporation’s vice president of company expansion and retention.
Crime and safety, housing and infrastructure, and police reform were all topics of Mobolade’s campaign. According to the political outsider who just took office, after being sworn in, his top aim is to make sure that “we are all on the same page with my vision and our vision, as well as establishing a good culture within city administration.”
