Flowers wins Democratic mayoral runoff
Overcoming a small deficit through absentee and early voting, state Rep. Vivian Flowers outdistanced incumbent Shirley Washington in Tuesday’s runoff election to become the Democratic nominee for mayor of Pine Bluff.
Complete but unofficial results were:
Flowers ............................. 2,569
Washington ....................... 2,137
Flowers attained 54.6% of the vote in a race that had 84.6% of the turnout from the March 5 primary. She is expected to face Libertarian John Fenley and independent Cameron McCaskill, who have announced their intent to run for mayor but have between July 31-Aug. 7 to file for the Nov. 5 general election.
Washington’s former special projects coordinator, William Fells III, handily won a Democratic runoff for the Ward 3, Position 1 race for the Pine Bluff City Council over incumbent Glen Brown Sr. Complete but unofficial results were:
Fells ........................................ 903
Brown ..................................... 355
As she did after the primary, Washington held a slight advantage before the first wave of Election Day results were reported in the runoff. The second-term mayor, whose tenure will end Jan. 1, 2025, had 1,091 early and absentee votes to Flowers’ 1,026.
The momentum immediately changed after results from 6 of 19 voting sites were reported. Flowers made up ground with 379 votes to Washington’s 204.
Flowers said the messaging in her campaign remained consistent.
“I think if we look at what happened in the primary, we trailed behind in the absentee vote and we made it up on the day of,” said Flowers, who had 1,913 votes to Washington’s 1,940 in the primary. “It’ll take some time for us to see who voted on Election Day. I think that’ll tell us why and how, but we just stayed consistent with our message. We did not attack anybody. We embraced the people, and we told why we were the best team, why we could do better in the city, and the people spoke. They heard us and they spoke.”
All four candidates were involved in intense campaigning over the past four weeks. A political action committee called Record of Truth released advertisements on radio and social media attacking Flowers’ voting record in the state Legislature, with an officer of that group apparently filing a complaint with the state Ethics Commission last week over Flowers’ not turning in a list of campaign contributions and expenditures at the end of February for the primary. Flowers released the list last week.
“I knew what the truth was,”
Flowers said. “I talked to my people. I answered to those issues one time, and I stayed on message. I stayed focused. As far as the personal feelings about it, it’s not about feelings. It’s about the work. The Lord helped keep me grounded.”
Both mayoral candidates were overcome with emotion in their post-election speeches downtown, just blocks from each other. Flowers’ party gathered at the Doctor’s Orders Pharmacy headquarters on Second Avenue, while Washington and company met in an office a block south of the Election Commission office on Main Street.
“I don’t feel like I lost anything,” said Washington, wiping away tears in her concession. “I think we won over the last eight years.”
Washington has stood on finishing projects supported by the Go Forward Pine Bluff sales tax that will sunset in September, including a go-kart track on East Harding Avenue, the Sixth and Main Plaza and a housing district for asset-limited, income-constrained, yet employed persons and their families. Under her mayorship, firefighters and police officers have received raises, and projects such as a new City Council chamber and Streetscape have come to fruition.
She has come under intense scrutiny in recent years, however, with questions about how Pine Bluff’s tax dollars are being utilized and whether the projects are coming along at a fast-enough pace.
Ryan Watley, Go Forward Pine Bluff’s CEO, uttered a message of support for Washington after the final numbers were announced.
“We came into city hall together, and Mayor Washington showed what it means to have a spirit of excellence,” Watley said. “Whoever comes behind her will have to fill that spirit of excellence.”
Both Washington and Watley urged supporters to support Flowers, even giving her the mayor-elect title although that isn’t sewn up yet.
“We’re going to go about these last nine months with our heads up,” Washington said. “We’re going to support Mayor-elect Flowers.”
Flowers said she will reach out to Washington to make sure the anticipated transition will be smooth and projects that are ongoing will be completed.
“And make sure that we move ahead with a focus in mind of transparency, of accountability, of communication, and really the things I ran on in terms of priorities,” Flowers said. She touted investment in youths, transportation infrastructure, heritage tourism and safety as her priorities.