Leading by a slim 366-vote margin Tuesday night, Bill Bell appeared to have defeated incumbent Nick Tennyson to become the next mayor of Durham.
In an officially nonpartisan election marked by strong involvement from the Democratic Party, Durham voters also approved five bond packages for county construction projects totaling $74.7 million, and they elected four incumbents and two fresh faces to the City Council as that body's size was cut in half.
According to unofficial returns, Bell won 50.4 percent of the vote to Tennyson's 49.3, with a voter turnout of 32,567, or 25.3 percent of city voters--twice as high as in last month's primary.
"I'm pleased," Bell said. "I thought it was going to be a close one."
But provisional ballots must still be counted, a task which should be completed by 11 a.m. Friday, said Joseph Fedrowitz, an official for the Board of Elections. Fedrowitz estimated that there might be 400 such ballots, twice the number in last month's primary.
Tennyson and Bell had similar platforms, though they differed on a few issues, including the proper pace of growth in the outer parts of the city, public funding for downtown development and the availability of affordable housing.
Bell stopped short of officially declaring victory, and Tennyson did not officially concede.
But he turned to address Bell as he left the County Courthouse, where candidates had gathered to watch the election returns.
"I congratulate you on the fact that the voters appear to have chosen you," he said. "I'm waiting to look at the final outcome, but the apparent outcome is obvious."
Meanwhile, jubilant Bell supporters applauded, shouted and embraced each other.
"I have seen what a grassroots movement in Durham can do," said Jackie Brown, chair of the Durham Planning Commission and one of the first people to encourage Bell to enter the race earlier this year.
Bell's campaign may have had a grassroots origin, but it received a significant boost from the national Democratic Party. Terry McAuliffe, chair of the Democratic National Committee, visited Durham two weeks ago to endorse Bell in person. And Monday night, "a couple thousand" Durham voters picked up the phone to hear an automated message from former president Bill Clinton backing Bell, said Edward Benson, chair of the Durham County Democratic Party.
The party also had 150 volunteers distributing flyers listing the Democrats among the mayoral and council candidates, said Benson, who is also a Chronicle columnist. "We've never put this much work [into a municipal election]," he said.
Officially, the election is nonpartisan, so candidates' party affiliations do not appear on the ballot, but Tennyson is a registered Republican and Bell a registered Democrat.
"The Democratic Party helped me, no ifs, ands or buts about it," Bell said.
Throughout the night, the lead in the mayoral race alternated between Tennyson and Bell, until returns for 49 of the city's 53 precincts had come in, and Tennyson held a 351-vote lead over Bell. Then, prompting spontaneous applause from Bell supporters throughout the courthouse, the 50th precinct swung the lead back to Bell, where it stayed.
The City Council races produced one outcome that surprised many observers, as John Best soundly defeated incumbent Erick Larson by 30.9 percentage points for the Ward 3 seat. "The fact that [Larson] got beat so handily--that was a stunner," said fellow council member Lewis Cheek.
Cheek was re-elected to an at-large seat on the council along with Thomas Stith and Tamra Edwards. Stith garnered the most votes with 22.5 percent, followed by Cheek with 19 percent and Edwards with 18.4 percent. Incumbents Dan Hill and Angela Langley and challenger Joe Williams were defeated.
Long-time city employee Cora Cole-McFadden was elected to the Ward 1 seat over Jeffery White by the largest margin of the City Council races--41 percentage points. "It's a good feeling when people show they have confidence in you," she said.
In Ward 2, an absent Howard Clement bested former Chronicle columnist Michael Peterson 61.4 percent to 38.5 percent.
All five bond issues passed Durham County voters--including a school bond package opposed by the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, which turned out a large number of voters to the polls. The $51.8 million school bonds passed 65.1 percent to 34.9 percent, the closest margin of all the bond packages.
But Lavonia Allison, the Durham Committee's chair, was not discouraged. "The numbers are not as important as who is going to be in control of the city," she said.
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