RED SPRINGS — Edward “Chub” Henderson was poised to win the race for mayor here and incumbent Murray McKeithan kept his seat on the Board of Commissioners, for which there were three open seats on the ballot.
Henderson garnered 480 votes to Board of Commissioners member Duron Burney’s 445 with a few votes to be counted. With his loss Burney keeps his seat on the Board of Commissioners and will serve the final two years of his term.
Mayor serve two years in Red Springs.
The top three vote-getters in the Board of Commissioners race were McKeithan, 442; Neal Lea’kes, 320; and Elma (Ree) Marie Patterson, with 305 votes.
Henderson and Burney were the only two people to file as candidates to replace current Mayor John McNeill, who did not file for re-election. McNeill is retiring after serving four two-year terms as mayor. He also served 34 years as a commissioner.
“I feel confident,” Henderson said.
Final vote tallies for his race against Burney weren’t in at that time, but early numbers showed he had a 2-1 lead over Burney.
He worked hard on his campaign and had help from “a lot of good people,” Henderson said. Even on Election Day he started campaigning at 5 a.m.
“It’s a great day for Red Springs,” he said.
The task now is to take what is good about Red Springs, add to it and make it a better town, he said.
Rest might come before taking up that task.
“It’s been such a long day. I’m glad it’s over,” Henderson said laughing. “It’s like when you reach the point of, win or lose, I just want it to be over.”
A total of 10 people filed to run for the Board of Commissioners. Also running were Robert (Bob) Hollingsworth, 295 votes; Marvin McDonald, 287; Karen Carlisle, 264; James Stevenson Tew, 242; Nekia Shaw, 237; Latora (Tori) Ferguson, 117; and DeAndre (Kane) Gillespie, 101 votes.
Hollingsworth, McDonald and Carlisle were write-in candidates.
