The race for Arvada’s District 2 City Council seat has thinned after two candidates — Murl Hendrickson and Bob Loveridge — have withdrawn. 

Neither candidate is the first to withdraw from the District 2 race. Current District 2 council member Lauren Simpson had initially filed to run again for her seat but withdrew to shift her focus to running for mayor. 

This leaves two candidates in the race — Michael Griffith and Shawna Ambrose. 

After withdrawing from the District 2 race, Loveridge filed to run for the at-large seat instead. He is now running against Kathleen Kennedy and Sharon Davis. Loveridge noted that he believed his chances of winning were higher in the at-large race than they had been in District 2. 

“I really wanted to go the simple route,” Loveridge said. “District 2 just got so crowded.”

He added that the seat doesn't matter, as he knows the issues city-wide. 

Hendrickson opted to withdraw from the election entirely, citing concerns regarding the possibility of Ambrose winning, should there be too many candidates in District 2. 

“This was concerning to me given Shawna's far-left political views,” Hendrickson said. “They are not in line with those of the average Arvadan.”

Hendrickson said that after he saw Loveridge drop out of the race, he decided to do the same, expressing that he now supported Griffith in the District 2 race. 

“A majority of progressive council members like Shawna and Lauren Simpson would take Arvada down a path towards becoming indistinguishable from Denver or Aurora.,” Hendrickson added. “That would not be a good thing for our city.”