As a result of Tuesday’s elections, many Wiregrass voters will return to the polls on Oct. 6 to decide several runoffs. The following is a roundup of several upcoming runoff races and outright winners in area elections.
Not all cities or towns that held elections provided election results for this report.
Dale County
In Ozark, the mayoral race will continue with a runoff between incumbent Bob Bunting and current Dale County Commission Chairman Mark Blankenship. Unofficial election results have Blankenship with 1,379 votes and Bunting with 1,096.
Challengers Chadwick Crews received 566 votes and Dion Robinson received 182.
In another runoff, District 1 city council member Frank Garrett, who secured 1,336 votes, will face Leah Harlow, who received 1,063 votes. Rachel Hauser had 768 votes.
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District 4 was won by city council member Brenda Simechak with 2,017 votes against Steve Price’s 1,124. District 5 council member Stanley Enfinger took the majority with 1,612 votes, while challenger Frankey Peterman took 1,553.
In Newton, mayoral candidate Lonnie Daniels received 216 votes against William Pruett Jr. with 168. The District 1 city council seat went to Belinda Thomas with 49 votes ahead of Ed “Red” Woodward with 33. District 2 was won by Allen Cole with 52 votes to Sharolyn Sidebottom’s 31. Adam Enfinger won the District 3 seat with 22 votes to Jeff Jordan’s two. District 4 will be represented by Brad Williams, who earned 72 votes and beat Angelia Willis-Fulford with 49 votes. District 5’s council seat was won by Robert Creamer with 39 votes over Selena Wood with 30 votes.
In Midland City, incumbent Mayor Joann Grimsley is facing a runoff after receiving 183 votes just behind Cindy Gary’s 190. Mel Adams received 78 votes.
City council member for District 2 Bobby Woodham won his seat back with a majority 53 votes over Michael Huff with 34. District 3’s seat went to incumbent George Williams with 44 votes. Sharon King had 15 votes and Elaine Knight had 18. In District 5, incumbent Dennis Matthews took the majority 38 votes over Rosalie Bryant’s 33.
In Daleville, Jayme Stanton won the mayoral race. Kevin Turley, Alicia “Jo” Reese, Kathryn Horace, Jimmy Monk, and Alan Souders won city council seats.
Geneva County:
Unofficial totals from Tuesday’s municipal election had no single candidate for Geneva mayor receiving the required 50% majority of votes to win outright.
David Hayes received votes 457 votes, followed by Greg Adams with 383 votes. John Hughes, the city’s current District 3 council member, received 331 votes. Hayes and Adams will move forward to the runoff election to fill the seat currently held by Mayor Frankie Lindsey, who did not seek re-election.
In Geneva’s District 7 race, the three candidates finished within half a percentage point of each other and provisional ballots could still affect the outcome. If the unofficial totals hold up, candidate Mike Bryan, who received 71 votes, will face Daniel L. Coleman, who received 70 votes, in the runoff. Todd Mote received 69 votes.
Geneva’s other council races, while still unofficial, were decided Tuesday.
In Geneva’s District 1 race, incumbent Rufus Lee received 83 votes and Charlie Harris received 32 votes. District 2 incumbent Freddy McCoy received 129 votes while opponent Tashara Martinestz received 19 votes.
In District 3, Kimberly Wesley Gillespie received 83 votes while Charles W. Fleming Jr. received 67 votes. District 4 incumbent Ryan Tidwell received 146 votes while opponents Jason Gerstner received 11 votes and Raymond Terry received 18.
District 5 incumbent Richard Bixby ran unopposed.
Geneva’s District 6 race saw Mike Fountain finish with 97 votes while Joe Buchinsky received one vote and Hobie L. Dixon 43 votes.
In Hartford, the District 2 council seat will be a runoff between Ted Thompson and Lester Williams Jr. Thompson received 51 votes and Williams received 40 votes. Two other candidates – Debbie Neal and Roy Smith – each received seven votes.
With one ballot separating them, District 4 candidates Zane Fowler and Ashley Tate will go into a runoff for that seat. Fowler received 75 votes while Tate received 74 votes. Incumbent Ken Hales received 35 votes and candidate Trey Enfinger received 21 votes.
The remaining Hartford council seats and the mayor’s race had clear winners.
Neil Strickland received 402 votes to Mayor Wendel Nolen’s 177 votes. In the city’s District 1 race, Melissa Clements received 61 votes while Larry Hillard Sr. received 36 votes. And in District 4, Paul Blount received 59 votes while Brandon Watford received 51 votes.
In the at-large Slocomb council race, Place 1 incumbent Tony Davis received 420 votes while challenger Scotty Shelton received 94 votes. Place 2 incumbent Joe T. Myles won with 268 votes over Nicky Devane, who received 244 votes. Don White won the Place 4 seat with 280 votes to Lisa Sconiers’ 229 votes. And in Place 5, incumbent Travis J. Garrett received 333 votes while opponent Tim Hatcher received 171 votes.
Slocomb Mayor Rob Hinson and Place 3 councilmember Henley Hicks were unopposed.
In Malvern, Mayor Tom Vickers won another term in office. Vickers received 152 votes. His opponent, Milton (Jimmy) Harris, received 122 votes.
The town’s at-large Place 5 council seat will go to a three-way runoff on Oct. 6, as none of the three candidates received enough votes to win outright. Jasmine Robinson received 98 votes while Barbara Williams and James (Jamie) Conner each received 85 votes.
There was only one race in Samson to fill the Place 4 seat on the at-large city council. The seat became vacant after the death of council member Michael Miller. In that race, Ed Janasky received 146 total votes and Heath Chancey received 42 votes.
Henry County
In Abbeville, residents will get a new mayor following the runoff election in October. Jimmy Money received 325 votes and Greg Grimsley received 227. Helms ended election night with 116 votes and Jim Giganti received 58 votes. Money and Grimsley are in the runoff.
In Abbeville’s District 1 race, incumbent Terry Allums received 67 and Dexter Glanton 88 votes. In the District 2 race, incumbent Brendt Murphy received 135 votes and Lakilya Porter Carater received 80 votes.
In District 3, incumbent Dorothy Baker received 49 votes, being beat by Eddie Jones who received 58 votes. In District 4, Vince Feggins will take on a new role as council member after receiving 82 votes, and incumbent Rena Cosby received 34 votes. In District 5, Jimmy Davis Jr., received 80 votes, Chris Pensigner received 39 votes, and Betty Yoder received 37 votes.
Houston County:
In Ashford, Mayor Carole Barfield won another term in office. Barfield received 257 votes. Her opponent Gary Gibson received 194.
In the Place 2 race, incumbent Ronnie Whitehead received 257 votes, and his opponent Benji McWaters received 186 votes. In Place 3, incumbent Alan Anderson received 254 votes to Gerald Williams’ 172. In Place 4, Blake Rosenkoetter received 258 votes to Terry Smith’s 176. In Place 5, incumbent James Smith was elected for another term with receiving 213 votes. His opponent Richard Bolden received 145.
Columbia Mayor Rhonda Freeman will serve another term, defeating her opponents Jessie Ingram, who received 43 votes, and Robert Hunter, who received 47 votes.
Cottonwood will welcome a new mayor. James Coachman received 153 votes and his opponent Garrett Lorton received 29 votes. In the District 4 race, Calvin Van Granger received 29 votes, and his opponent Grady Morris Adams received 16 votes.
The town of Cowarts’ Place 1 incumbent Jerry Rogers won another term. Rogers got 97 votes, compared to his opponent Allen Hendrickson’s 45 votes.
Gordon will also welcome a new mayor. Charles Dismukes received 86 votes, beating incumbent Mayor Shana Ray, who received 47 votes. In Gordon’s Seat 2 race, Albert Lowe received 96 votes, and Rita Smith received 40 votes. In Seat 4, Laura Southold received 77 votes with Mike Pearson receiving 60 votes.
The town of Kinsey falls among the several cities and towns that will have a new mayor after the runoff. Jason Reneau will face his opponent Anthony White in the runoff election on Oct. 6. Incumbent Mayor Charles Douglas received 76 votes. Reneau received 204 votes, and White received 135 votes. In Kinsey’s at-large council election, Vivian Jones received the most votes to represent the town. Jones received 103 votes. The following council members received the highest votes to fill the seven council positions: Austin McArdle, 59 votes; Tommy Ferguson, 43 votes; Cindy Gaylor, 42 votes; King Thomas, 42 votes; Joe Watson, 39 votes and Tina Tanner, 28 votes.
After several years as serving as mayor of Rehobeth, Joe Collins will pass the torch to a new mayor, Kimberly Trotter, who received 219 votes to Collins’ 37 votes.
In Taylor’s Place 1 race, Marcus Davis received 103 votes and his opponent John Langley received 28. In Place 2, Jerry Kelly received 92 votes, and Debbie Somma received 38.
Webb’s Mayor Cindy Buie will serve another term. Buie received 117 votes, and her opponent Eddie Hamm received 70. The following council members were elected: Jerry Tew, 72 votes; Sherie Williams, 33 votes; Michael McLaney, 27 votes; Will Thomas Sr., 26 votes, and Morgan Hicks, 22 votes.
Enterprise
In Enterprise, the mayor’s race and the city council District 3 campaign have gone to runoffs between incumbent Mayor Bill Cooper and Bill Baker, and council candidates Les Hogan and Greg Padgett.
Cooper earned the most mayoral votes with 1,646. Baker made the runoff with 940. Lister Reeves finished third with 889 and Perry Vickers, the current city council president and District 3 councilman, was fourth with 709.
Hogan led the District 3 balloting with 431 votes. Padgett was next with 345. Danny Bradley was third with 168 votes and James Brown was fourth with 152.
The other two contested races saw incumbents win without need for a runoff.
District 1 incumbent Sonya Rich won reelection against two opponents. Rich had 366 votes, outpacing Jerrold Whitehurst with 133 votes, and Reiders White, Jr. with 76.
In District 2, incumbent Eugene Goolsby won with 753 votes over LaQuilla Stoudmire’s 237 votes.
Eufaula
Jack B. Tibbs Jr. won his bid for a third term as Mayor of Eufaula, outdistancing challengers Sara Hamm and L.C. Green. The final voting tally had Tibbs with 2,075, followed by Hamm with 672 and Green 345.
There will be only one runoff, that in District 4 between John Wayne Robinson and Logan Mitchell. Robinson received 307 votes, while Mitchell garnered 233. Kaloeb Morris missed the runoff with 128 votes.
Ben Garrison defeated incumbent Tony Robertson in District 1, 443-280. Otis Hill defeated Jeff Robinson – both new candidates after President Johnny A. Knight chose not to seek re-election in District 2. Hill beat Robinson, 415-275.
Marvin Brown was the only candidate for District 3, which had been held by Lucious Cobbs. Cobbs did not seek re-election. Wes Register defeated incumbent Barbara C. Flurry in District 5, 316-181, while Rosalind Skipper Rice finished third with 114.