Craig Lowe | |
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Craig Lowe views a screen showing live poll results in the 2010 mayoral race at the Supervisor of Elections Office in Gainesville, FL.
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Mayor of Gainesville | |
In office May 20, 2010 – May 23, 2013 |
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Preceded by | Pegeen Hanrahan |
Succeeded by | Ed Braddy |
City Commissioner from Gainesville District IV |
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Assumed office May 22, 2003 |
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Preceded by | New Office |
Succeeded by | Randy Wells |
Personal details | |
Born |
Atlanta, Georgia |
July 18, 1957
Political party | Democratic (non-partisan election) |
Residence | Gainesville, Florida |
Alma mater |
University of Florida University of Georgia |
Profession | Scientist, Educator |
Website | City of Gainesville Bio |
Stuart Craig Lowe, better known as Craig Lowe, (born July 18, 1957) is an American politician and former Mayor of Gainesville, Florida. After winning a runoff election on April 13, 2010, by a margin of 42 votes (which held through an automatic recount) Lowe became Mayor-elect of Gainesville. He was sworn in on May 20, 2010, becoming the first openly gay Mayor of the city. He lost his bid for re-election on April 16, 2013 to former city councilman Ed Braddy after being arrested for a DUI during the campaign.
He was first elected to the Gainesville City Commission to fill the newly created District IV seat for a one-year term in April 2003 and served through his third consecutive term and second full (3-year) term until being sworn in as Mayor.
Mayor Lowe also served as Chair of the Gainesville City Commission’s Equal Opportunity Committee, a member of the Regional Utilities, Community Development, and Countywide Visioning & Planning committees as well as the local Community Redevelopment Agency, the Gainesville/Alachua County Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization and the Alachua County Library Governing Board.
Lowe was a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston mayor Thomas Menino.
Lowe was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He received a B.S.A. degree in Soil Science from the University of Georgia. After moving to Gainesville in 1982 he received a master's degree in zoology from the University of Florida.
Commissioner Lowe ran for re-election unopposed in 2004.
A runoff election was held on April 13, 2010 with Lowe and Marsh as the candidates. The unofficial results indicated that Lowe had 6,098 votes (50.14%) and Marsh 6,063 votes (49.86%), excluding provisional ballots. Ultimately 17 provisional ballots were verified, yielding 12 more votes for Lowe and 5 more for Marsh. As the margin was less than 0.50% between the candidates, an automatic machine recount took place on April 16, 2010. The recount verified the unofficial results, including verified provisional ballots, leaving the vote tallies unchanged. These are the official, certified results of the election.