Former Starkville Chief Administrative Officer Lynn Spruill edged local attorney Johnny Moore in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for mayor, but the two will meet again in a May 16 runoff after Spruill fell almost 3 percent shy of securing a majority in the election.
Spruill received 1,682 votes (47.38 percent) to Moore’s 1,601 (45.1 percent) on Tuesday, neither reaching the needed 50 percent-plus-one-vote threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Damion Poe, the 26-year-old upstart who endorsed Spruill after being eliminated from the race, received 267 (7.5 percent).
Both Spruill and Moore pledged to refocus their campaigns, stick to the issues and work to draw voters back to the polls in two weeks.
Approximately 3,550 voted in this year’s Democratic Primary, up from the almost 2,700 voters drawn to the 2013 contest between Mayor Parker Wiseman and Mary Lee Beal.
Spruill’s 1,682 votes came from outpacing Moore in four of Starkville’s seven wards: Ward 1, Ward 4, Ward 5 and Ward 6. Her biggest margin of victory was in Ward 5, where she beat Moore by 120 votes.
“I look forward to the next two weeks and convincing voters that I’m the right candidate and the most qualified candidate to lead Starkville into the future,” she said. “I’m proud of all of the candidates for how they ran their campaigns and everyone stuck to the issues. I’m also proud of Damion for running a strong race and look forward to working to show his constituents why he endorsed me. There were a lot of issues we both agreed upon and are many ways we can work together.”
Moore captured Wards 2 and 7, and enjoyed his biggest victory over Spruill in Ward 3 by 119 votes. That ward last went for Republican candidate Dan Moreland in the 2013 mayoral general election.
“We’re going to continue to work in the next two weeks to get the voters out and win the election. We’re going to continue to do the same thing, but we’re going to work harder,” he said. “I’ve been part of this community for 56 years … so I think I’m pretty well versed in what’s going on. (Campaigning) really has been (a reaffirmation). It just made me feel really good about the community, because it’s exactly what I thought it was when we started this campaign. We’re going to go out and visit with everybody that voted, have a good conversation with them, see where they stand … and get them out to vote.”
Poe failed to break the 20-vote threshold in Ward 3; averaged 23 votes in Wards 1, 4 and 5; and had his best showings of the night — 69 votes — in both Wards 6 and 7.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the campaign. It was definitely a learning experience. I am so very much appreciative of the amount of support that the community has offered, and I challenge all of the young adults who got involved with my campaign to stay involved,” Poe said in a statement posted to Facebook and provided to The Dispatch. “This is definitely not the end for me.”
Tuesday’s unofficial results include absentee ballots but not affidavits. City Clerk Lesa Hardin did not have an exact count of those ballots at the end of the night but estimated the city might have 40 to 50 of those to process Wednesday.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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