With none of the 12 candidates in Tuesday’s crowded race to succeed Mayor John Suthers earning a majority of votes, Colorado Springs residents will get another chance to decide next month.

Unofficial results released by the City Clerk’s Office at 9:40 p.m. show Yemi Mobolade, a West African immigrant, entrepreneur and political newcomer, could face Wayne Williams, a city councilman and former El Paso County commissioner and Colorado secretary of state, in a May 16 mayoral runoff election.

Mobolade and Williams garnered the highest amount of votes in the mayor’s race — about 28.7% and 20.2%, respectively, according to unofficial results. If those results hold throughout the counting of ballots, they would move into a second round that will determine who will become the city’s next top leader.

City Clerk Sarah Johnson previously said her office is working to mail out ballots on April 21 for the runoff election, though it has until May 1 to do so.

In the runoff election, the candidate who earns the most votes will be named Colorado Springs’ third strong mayor. They will act as the city’s full-time chief executive, with the power to enforce laws and ordinances, create a strategic plan for the city and submit to the City Council an annual budget, among others. The City Council acts as the legislative branch.

Residents have decided their mayor in two previous runoff elections.

The first time was in 2011, when Steve Bach defeated Richard Skorman, a businessman who later served as a city councilman. Bach earned 57% of the vote in the 2011 runoff election compared to nearly 43% for Skorman. Earlier in the general election, Skorman had earned nearly 36% and Bach just over 33% among eight candidates.

The second time was in 2015, when Suthers was elected to his first term as mayor. That year, Suthers earned about 67.5% of the runoff election vote over the 32% challenger Mary Lou Makepeace earned. Makepeace is a former Colorado Springs mayor, elected as the city’s first female mayor in 1997.

In 2019, Suthers won his bid for reelection with a resounding 72.5% of the vote, so there was no runoff.