Iredell elections roundup: Huggins will keep seat

Statesville Councilman Flake Huggins will keep his Ward 6 seat for another four years as he overcame an election loss to challenger J.D. Williams and won a run-off election in convincing fashion Tuesday.

Huggins took 58.9 percent of the vote to Williams’ 41.1 percent in a race that attracted nearly 61 percent more voters than the initial Ward 6 election held Oct. 11. Indeed, Tuesday’s total of 506 voters nearly equaled the turnout of the last two Ward 6 elections (309 last month; 243 in 2007).

The vote-count was the most of any Statesville ward race in the Iredell County Board of Elections website database and may well be the most participated-in of any non-citywide race in Statesville’s history.

Huggins’ get-out-the vote effort was head-manned by Wade Ikard, who had been certain of a big victory for his candidate in conversations held with the R&L over the past several days.

Williams, who also lost to Huggins in 2007, said he worked “as hard as I could." He said he was going to bed Tuesday night knowing “that I did all I could. I ran a good, clean campaign but the people spoke and they said they wanted to stay on the course they were on and I respect that.”

Williams said that while he lost the race, he was not done with the political activism he has been involved in that led him to run for office in the first place.

“The issues I brought up still need to be addressed,” Williams said. “I’m still going to work to bring racial diversity to all the city’s departments and not just the sanitation department. I’m still going to work to make the city safe and to clean up the ward. But now this all falls to Flake and I’m going to make sure we hold his foot to the fire to get them done.”

Huggins, who is only the third African American to sit on a Statesville governing board, won his fourth term.

In Troutman, Mayor Elbert Richardson was unchallenged but still managed to take only 75 percent of the vote as a write-in candidate or candidates took the other 25 percent.

But the Troutman Board of Aldermen will welcome two new members as incumbent Jenny Blevins finished last among the five candidates in the race for three seats.

But a question remains as to who one of those members will be. Top vote-getter Betty Jean Troutman edged out political newcomer J.T. Jablonski by a handful of votes. Both of these candidates won four-year terms. But there was a dead tie for third place -- and the final seat in the election -- between former longtime alderman Paul Henkel and Jason Major, who both finished with 107 votes. It was the third straight Troutman election to see an incumbent lose his or her seat.

Board of Elections officials had not yet put their official stamp on the election results as of press time Tuesday night, but if the vote stands, there could be another coin-toss or other similar random means to decide who gets a two-year term on the board.

Harmony will welcome a new mayor as current Alderwoman Joyce Rogers held off fellow challenger for the top seat, Randy Thomas. Rogers will replace longtime Mayor John Ray Campbell, who decided not to run for reelection after 24 years in the office.

The town’s board will get two new members who were unchallenged by a serious write-in candidate.

In Love Valley, where nearly 70 percent of the town’s registered voters turned out, acting-Mayor Charles Saunders beat out three other candidates to win the job. Finishing second was Tori Barker Callanan, the granddaughter of town founder and longtime mayor Andy Barker, who passed away in August.

Town commission candidate votes were not finalized as of press time.

Results

Statesville Ward 6

Flake Huggins – 298 (58.9 percent)

J.D. Williams -- 208 (41.1 percent)

Troutman Mayor Elbert Richardson – 115 (75.2 percent)

Write-In – 38 (34.8 percent)

Troutman Board of Aldermen

Betty Jean Troutman – 144 (28.2 percent)

J.T. Jablonski – 139 (24.9 percent)

Paul Henkel – 107 (19.1 percent)

Jason Major – 107 (19.1 percent)

Jenny Blevins – 60 (10.7 percent)

Harmony Mayor Joyce Rogers – 74 (52.5 percent)

Randy Thomas – 66 (66.8 percent)

Write-In – 1 (0.7 percent)

Harmony Board of Aldermen

Eddie Gaither – 116 (32.4 percent)

Scotty Harris – 87 (24.3 percent)

Ray Lewis – 73 (20.4 percent)

Julia Clanton – 71 (19.8 percent)

Write-In – 11 (3.1 percent)

Love Valley Mayor

Charles Saunders – 41 (56.2 percent)

Tori Barker Callanan – 27 (37.0 percent)

Robert Payne ­– 3 (4.1 percent)

Cathy Carter-Goodman – 2 (2.7 percent)