Butler Mayor Tom Donaldson blamed his loss Tuesday on low voter turnout.

“I'm disappointed,” he said Wednesday. “I'm a little surprised but it was an extremely low voter turnout.”

A 22.01 percent total voter turnout for the Butler mayoral and city council primaries was higher than the county's overall turnout in the election, which was about 15 percent. Republican voters in the city turned out at a higher rate — 24.48 percent — than Democratic voters at 19.7 percent.

Donaldson was defeated in the Republican primary by Ben Smith, who won 372 votes to Donaldson's 223 votes, according to unofficial results. Councilman Michael Walter came in third with 98 votes.

Smith will face Jamie Lee Goehring in November's general election. Donaldson on Wednesday said no matter who wins, residents in the city will be faced with an inexperienced mayor next year.

“I've been in municipal government working or serving since I was 18 years old,” Donaldson said. “Neither candidate for mayor has any experience that's going to do them any good in this office.”

Donaldson said that he was unable to be as active in his campaign as other candidates were because he had to balance campaigning with his mayoral duties.

However, he said he had “no regrets” regarding his campaign.

“It was a low turnout, that's all it is,” he said.

He also said he did what was necessary for the city without regard to the possibility of a second term.

“I would rather do the right thing and lose than sell my soul to the devil just to keep the job,” he said.

He also is focused on his goals for the duration of the year, including contract negotiations with unionized city employees represented by FOP Lodge 32, IAFF Local 114 and AFSCME Local 757.

“There are legal contracts that have to be handled,” he said. “It doesn't matter who's in office; they must be done.”