There were four contested races in the 2016 Waynesboro city elections on the ballot on Tuesday. I assumed all four would go to candidates backed by the power elite that has run city politics dating back more than 20 years, but there were two upsets of note.
Elzena Anderson became the second African-American elected to City Council in the city’s history with her impressive win over retired businessman Sonny Smith in Ward A. And then in the At Large School Board race, Shelly Laurenzo held off the challenge of Alex Stevens, the son-in-law of retiring former mayor Frank Lucente, with a 20-point win.
The At Large City Council race went to Terry Short, who had support from the Lucente faction, over former City Councilwoman Nancy Dowdy, and Mayor Bruce Allen, also a Lucente team member, won re-election in Ward B, though in a tighter-than-expected race with political newcomer Jerry Campbell.
So, we get a bit of a mixed bag, but given the expectations, of a steamroller win for the machine, it’s a mixed bag that I actually feel somewhat good about.
On a day with abysmally low turnout, with less than 2,300 votes cast among the more than 12,500 residents registered to vote, those who turned out largely bucked the partisan labeling.
What this will mean in regard to the big issues of the day in Waynesboro – the push to renovate Waynesboro High School, at a cost of between $40 million and $75 million, and the status of the economic-development deal with the Wayne Theatre that the outgoing City Council wants to throw into the trash – remains to be seen.
Short campaigned on the promise that he would be a unifying force between the power bloc and progressives who want to see movement on the high school and economic opportunity.
He will be sworn in on July 1 alongside Anderson, who was more vocal in support of the push on WHS and the Wayne deal, and Allen, whose policy views harken back to the Stone Age.
Laurenzo’s decisive victory in the race for the At Large School Board seat, meantime, would seem to send a clear message from the voters on the high school issue.
All things considered, it wasn’t the resounding progressive victory that I would have wanted, and not the deflating it’s time to flee town for good defeat that I feared.
To me, that counts as a small step forward, with lots of big steps still to come.
Column by Chris Graham
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