Lawson, Mei and Gravely winners in council race
Martinsville voters reelected Councilwoman Kathy Lawson and chose Julian Mei and Rayshaun Gravely as new council members on Tuesday.
Lawson received the most votes with 2,887, followed by Mei with 2,488 and then Gravely with 2,480.
John Wilson III received 2,095 and LaNita Herlem took in 1,613 votes in the five-way race for three seats.
Gravely may have finished third in the race with three winners, but he won five of the six precincts in the city. Mei, who finished second in the council race, won the largest precinct (#5), at the School Administration Building in Druid Hills.
Early voting went decidedly in favor of Lawson, who was the top vote-getter, and Wilson and Herlem fell short in their first attempts at running for an elected office.
"We just want to continue to good work that we started," said Lawson. "We've got projects that we've talked about, but we need to take action on them. We know we have some issues that we need to address and we're doing that."
While Lawson has served on the City Council for 12 years, this was Gravely's first time running for public office.
"It's a good feeling, but I will also remain humble because without the citizens of Martinsville I would not be here and I would like to thank all of my supporters, my family and friends for being so kind and trusting me to take this office and lead Martinsville in a great direction," said Gravely. "I'm excited at what the future holds and I'm looking forward to working with City Council, citizens, Public Safety, Mental Health, whatever it takes to improve someone's life, I'm going to do it."
Mei was unavailable for comment when the results were in.
Precinct #1 (Housing)
Precinct #2 (Martinsville Middle School)
Precinct #3 (Virginia Museum of Natural History)
Precinct #4 (Martinsville High School)
Precinct #5 (School Administration)
Precinct #6 (Albert Harris Middle School)
Early In-Person
Absentee Ballots
Bill Wyatt (276) 591-7543
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