Rocky Mount NC - Rocky Mount Councilwoman Lois Watkins defeated former Councilman Tom Looney by more than 300 votes
Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 01:34 AM
Posted in Politics Local
by DCN
Rocky Mount Councilwoman Lois Watkins defeated former Councilman Tom Looney by more than 300 votes Tuesday in a runoff election for the Ward 4 City Council seat.
The results reversed the Oct. 5 election, in which Looney outpaced Watkins by 12 votes. Watkins called for a runoff because a third candidate, Earl Hall, won 88 votes.
Watkins' win Tuesday overturned Looney's well-financed campaign. The former councilman and retired investment counselor raised more than $77,000, a record for . . . (Source Rocky Mount Telegram)
See related link:
Councilwoman wins by big margin
C. Dancy II - TPA Opinion: This is what happens when one runs an aggressive grassroots campaign. These types of campaigns will beat out cash any day especially when you have a person in your camp such as Rocky Mount Councilman Andre Knight who really worked hard. Others worked hard as well.
Congratulations to Watkins, Melvin Muhammad who defeated longtime Tarboro Town Councilman Roland Clark, Princeville Councilwoman Ann Brown Howell and Gwendolyn Knight who deated Princeville Councilwoman Maggie Boyd.
The Tarboro Town Council will be quite interesting now with Muhammad and former Edgecombe County Commissioner Steve Hoard defeating Taboro Town Councilman Fred Williams, Jr.
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Wednesday, November 7, 2007 - Watkins win
Congrats to Councilwoman Watkins. Are you glad that you had a traditional runoff now?Posted by Anonymous
Wednesday, November 7, 2007 - Traditional Runoff vs IRV Instant Runoff Voting
C. Dancy II - TPA Hell yeah I am happy and the hell with IRV.I see IRV as a process of elimination. I feel strongly that Watkins would no longer be on the council if the council had chosen to use the IRV in this year's election. The State Board of Elections came to Rocky Mount several months ago and met with the Nash and Edgecombe Board of Elections trying to sell it to them but they didn't sign on.
Thanks to NCVoters and Ms. Joyce McCloy for their resources because when I contacted them they responded with valuable information. I then shared the information with the folks here so they could be informed when we met with the BOE.
Celebration is in order because the grassroots campaign can work when we work together and not against each other. The Earl Hall Campaign showed us what can happen when we work against each other but we didn't give up as we continued to educate the people and ain't God good.
It was past time for the people of Rocky Mount to come out of bondage and by doing so they have sent a message to others that we have the power to promote change.
In re: Watkins win
Congrats to Councilwoman Watkins. Are you glad that you had a traditional runoff now?
Edited by curmilus on Wednesday, November 7, 2007 at 01:44
Posted by C. Dancy II - TPA