John Gunter, who took the top spot in a three-way race in the Oct. 3 Cape Coral City Council Primary repeated the feat Tuesday with a comfortable victory for the District 1 seat, beating Graham Madison Morris.

Gunter took 56.65 percent of the vote to Madison Morris’ 43.35 percent, resulting in a more than 2,500 vote victory in a race that saw 19,041 ballots cast..

Gunter, a 30-year business owner, credited the win to a lot of elbow grease, a strong work ethic and a good team.

“Now, we get to work. I’m glad. It was a team effort. A lot of people came together and helped me, so I owe it to them,” Gunter said at his victory celebration at Rockade. “Now, I’m looking forward to getting to work and moving the city forward. We have a good team going forward, and I think there are a lot of good things to come.”

Gunter hopes his business experience can help the city grow its business base, which has always lagged behind, resulting in homeowners bearing the brunt of city taxation.

“We need more commercial development and to close the 90-10 ratio between commercial and residential. We want to make that ratio a little smaller and take that burden off the residents a little less,” said Gunter, who called Cape Coral the worst place he has done business in during a business career spanning three decades.

He is determined to change that.

“We have to change the land use and zoning regulations to make the city user friendly and inviting,” Gunter said. “We need to change our policies.”