KALISPELL — The City of Kalispell will officially have a new mayor for the first time in 12 years come Jan. 1, 2026.
Ryan Hunter was elected as Kalispell’s next mayor earning more votes than fellow candidates Kisa Davison and Sid Daoud.
Hunter has served as a Kalispell City Council member for the last six years and replaces outgoing mayor Mark Johnson.
Hunter told MTN that he's thankful to be elected Kalispell’s next mayor.
“Just very thankful to the voters for putting their trust in me and willing to give me the opportunity to serve them in the mayor’s seat and the ability to earn their trust, I really appreciate the voters trust in me," said Hunter.
Watch previous coverage: Full interview with Kalispell mayor candidate Ryan Hunter:
A total of 32,124 votes were counted county-wide during the Tuesday, Nov. 4, election in Flathead County. Flathead County Elections Manager Paula Buff said election workers started counting ballots Monday morning and finished before 11 p.m. Tuesday night.
Buff said it was a smooth operation at election headquarters.
“Out of the 32,126 ballots that we accepted only two were rejected, and one was because somebody turned in an affirmation with no ballot in it and then another situation where a ballot was turned in that was not the correct ballot style for that particular election so we had to reject that one as well, so two rejections out of 32,000-plus ballots is pretty incredible," said Buff.
Buff said just over 46% of registered voters voted in the municipal election.
