Coe, Fair advance in First District primary

Here we go again!

Jeff Coe and Keith Fair advanced through the City Council's First District primary election and will face each other in the April 7 general election.

Coe and Fair are hardly strangers. This will be the fourth time they've run against each other for the First District seat. Coe has won twice and Fair once in their head-to-head matchup over the last eight years, but one of Coe's victories came after Fair's name was left off the ballot because of questions over signatures he collected.

Coe, the incumbent, appears to have a slight advantage over Fair. He won the primary with 117 votes, followed by Fair with 72 votes. Mercedes Dzindzeleta finished third with 38 votes, and Renee Mullen received 10 votes.

Fair looking to get back on City Council

For the third straight election, Keith Fair will run for the City Council's First District seat, which represents Downtown Racine.

In 2005, Fair was elected to the council by three votes over incumbent Jeff Coe. In 2007, Coe returned the favor by beating Fair 217-168.

Fair also tried to run against Coe in 2003, but was left off the ballot after then City Clerk Karen Norton ruled Fair did not have enough valid signatures.

Here's Fair's statement on running, once again, for elected office:

I will be running in the First District. These are very exciting times for me as well as others with the election of Barack Obama. I would like to see some enthusiasm at the local level and I am looking forward to serving on the city council once again.

Coe wasn't immediately available for comment on whether he's running for re-election. It's a safe bet he is, but we'll update when we hear from him.