What happened? How did Kim White double her lead in two weeks?

To all the poll workers, campaign volunteers, voters, election officials and candidates who ran for the right reasons: Thank you. This pandemic year has reminded me of the Chattanoogans whose selfless work drives this city. Elections run smoothly here; thank you for everything known and unknown you did to help. Now, the big question: What happened? In January, Tim Kelly’s lead in the race for Chattanooga mayor was 21%, according to polls, with Kim White at 15%.

In February, Kelly’s lead stretched to nearly 28% while White’s stayed flat at 15%.

Yet last Tuesday, when some 28,000 Chattanoogans voted, White’s support — in a matter of two weeks — doubled.

She ended at 29% of the vote, a hairbreadth away from Kelly, at 30%.

The two candidates — fewer than 300 votes separated them — are now in an April 13 run-off.

Again, what on earth happened?

Here’s one theory: the Rush post.

Soon after talk show host Rush Limbaugh died on Wednesday, Feb. 17, Kelly posted a meme critical of Limbaugh; the meme was a misquote of attorney Clarence Darrow, who once wrote: “I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction.”

Kelly later deleted it, but the damage was done.

“I should not have done it,” Kelly said. “I believe the best way to handle a mistake is to first own up to it and then do better in the future. Our city and country would be a better place if more people took responsibility and committed to doing better in the future. As your next mayor, I’m committed to bringing Chattanooga together.”

How many conservative Chattanoogans began to rethink Kelly? How many votes did White pick up from that one post-unpost?

Dozens? Sure. Hundreds? Thousands?

(The irony here is that we are criticizing a man for criticizing another man who spent his whole career often criticizing others.)

Can anyone else explain how Kelly’s lead — nearly 30% in February, almost double White’s — vanished to less than 1% on Election Day?

So, at the end of such a complicated season, we face another complication: a mayoral run-off.

Some folks already know who won.

“The power elite remains firmly in control,” one friend said.

“Money still rules all,” said another.

While neither candidate seems a substantial threat to the status quo, there are clear distinctions between the two.

On Kim White’s website, there are 10 downloadable policies on various subjects, like education, sustainability, housing. Not one of them includes the word “Black” or “Hispanic.” Not one single specific mention of Black or Hispanic Chattanooga. Yet, in those 10 policies, the term “business” appears more than 40 times.

Kelly, by comparison, has written entire policies specifically about Hispanic Chattanooga and Black Chattanooga.

As former head of River City Co., White tells the city she helped spur $1.2 billion in investments.

Why are so many people still so poor?

I’d love to know how Chattanooga women voted last Tuesday. Towards Kelly, the more left-leaning? Or towards White, which would let Chattanooga have its first female mayor? In her 2014 TEDx Talk on the future of our city, she spoke about growing up seeing women like Mary Tyler Moore as role models.

We disagree on policies, yet I celebrate the feminism found in White’s success and possible victory.

Monty Bruell, who finished in fourth place, has openly backed Kelly. Bruell, one of seven Black candidates on the ballot in a 15-candidate field, earned 2,407 votes.

Add up the votes of all seven Black candidates?

It’s more than 10,000 votes.

Combine the Black candidates into one, and that man or woman handily beat both Kelly and White.

It reminds me of a story the Rev. Paul McDaniel told at the funeral of John Franklin Sr., who, in 1971, became the first Black Chattanoogan to hold public office.

Leading up to the election, McDaniel said, Black leaders gathered together, deciding Franklin was their man, essentially appointing him: You’re our candidate. We need you to run.

“We made a decision one night that John Franklin should be the man,” said McDaniel, the retired pastor of Second Missionary Baptist Church and former county commissioner. “This county needed Johnny Franklin.”

Today, times are different. Black leadership is different. It’s unfair and simplistic of me to suggest whittling down the great spectrum of local Black politics and philosophies to one candidate. Blackness isn’t one dimensional.

And yet … how long will City Hall remain white? Four more years, possibly eight, will pass before we have the chance again to elect a Black mayor.

What happened? What will happen on April 13?