ST. GEORGE - A couple of St. George races head to a runoff as the District 4 and one at-large for city council are up for grabs.

Patty Cook ended up with 45% of the vote for District 4 Council Member. David Madafarri had 19%. Political analyst James Hartman says this was the most surprising race to head to a runoff.

"The odds are in her favor going into the runoff. Perhaps she'll be able to avoid that. If not, she needs to shore up the support of those other candidates and keep doing what's been doing. She ran a good campaign. She's been visible for over a decade," he said. 

Jim Talbot and Shaw Wyche are vying for the remaining city council at-large seat. David Dellucci won the first seat with 28% of the vote. Talbot received 23% while Wyche had 20%, leading the two to a runoff. Talbot is a Republican and Wyche is a Democrat.

"The way St. George has been constituted is similar to many cities of its size. Where there are five districts from which council members are elected, then two who are elected city-wide to represent the entire population," he said

Hartman says with Wyche being a Democrat and a person of color running for office in a predominantly white-conservative area, it may be difficult for him to win. 

"It's going to take a lot of work and a lot of strategic messaging if he's going to pull that off. Mr. Talbot comes in with the built-in demographics that are going to be considered more favorable in this at-large race," he said.

Voters were also not in favor of the home rule charter. It included the mayor's starting salary being at $160,000 and hiring a city manager to run day-to-day operations.

"Cities the size of St. George generally do have a charter, which lays out the roles of the mayor, the council members, term limits and salaries can be set there. It's probably a good idea for St. George to have one, but the one that was proposed - according to the voters - was heavily flawed. No offense to Mayor Yates, but that is a high salary for a city this size and there were those who said, 'Why should we have a city manager and a mayor? Isn't that duplicating efforts and costing a lot more?'" Hartman said.

The runoff election takes place on May 3.