Wildes easily wins Englewood mayor primary

Michael Wildes scored a big victory in his bid to return as mayor of Englewood, defeating organization candidate Phil Meisner by a 64%-36% margin after a contentious Democratic primary.

Running off the organization line, Wildes beat Meisner 2,675 to 1,504 – a margin of 1,171 votes – in a contentious and often nasty race.

Wildes was elected mayor in 2004 and re-elected in 2007.  He did not seek re-election to a third term in 2010 and was succeeded by a rival, Frank Huttle.

Huttle did not seek re-election and backed Meisner, the Democratic Municipal Chairman.  Wildes also swept control of the Democratic County Committee.

The politically ambitious Wildes, who has $700,000 in a federal campaign account, put $200,000 of his own money into his bid for mayor of the city of 27,000.  Among his campaign donors was Yoko Ono.