Municipal elections in Mississippi take place every four years on the first Tuesday in June. Things have been interesting here in Oxford. Our well-liked, two-term mayor, Richard Howorth, didn’t run for another term, and most of the aldermen had stiff competition. Pat Patterson ended up winning the mayor’s race in a landslide, but all but one of the contested alderman races were decided by 25 votes or less. Affidavit ballots that will be counted in the morning could change the outcome of two of the races. Get more info at the Oxford Eagle.
It was a record day for me personally. I voted for two Democrats and a Republican. While I don’t identify as a Republican, I do tend to agree with them more than the Democrats. I’m to the right of the Republicans on most economic issues, so voting for Democrats is typically out of the question. On the other hand, parties mean less in local elections, especially here in Mississippi were a lot of your older, hardcore conservative voters self-identify as Democrats and won’t vote for Republicans, period. Also, I’ve found that programs I could never stomach on a national level aren’t so bad on a local level.
Back in my hometown of Belmont, my younger brother ran for alderman. In Belmont (population ~2,000), all the alderman are at-large, and they all run as independents by tradition, so there is no primary. Brandon received the second highest number of votes out of the eight that were running. Most of his opponents were twice his age or better. Congratulations, Brandon!
My dad has been an alderman in Belmont for 21 years, but didn’t run for re-election this time. The other aldermen held a reception to honor him and the retiring mayor a few weeks ago. I’ve got some pictures to post when I get a chance.