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Long Beach voters make choices, one runoff set for April 27

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By Andy Kanengiser

Long Beach Mayor George Bass cruised to victory on April 6 to keep his post in City Hall for another four years. He defeated challenger John Ruth by a 1,755 to 458 vote tally.

The Republican incumbent mayor racked up 79 percent of the vote, compared to 21 percent for his GOP rival. Bass served for more than three decades as fire chief in the city. With the April 6 primary, he earned his second term as mayor. He has no opponents in the general election.

The mayor’s race in the Friendly City was among many municipal elections across the Magnolia State. There were several more contests on the ballot for Long Beach voters in this Mississippi Gulf Coast community.

Election day drama will continue in Harrison County, with Long Beach voters returning to precincts in an April 27 runoff in the city’s Ward 6. The upcoming contest will match Peter McGoey with opponent Owen McNally. On April 6, McGoey finished on top with 160 votes (38 percent), or just seven more than McNally’s 153 votes (36 percent). Junior Husband tallied 112 votes to finish third. When one candidate fails to receive more than fifty percent of the votes, the top two vote-getters square off in runoffs.

One incumbent Long Beach alderman lost his seat on April 6. Long Beach educator Patrick Bennett received 196 votes (56 percent) to win the Ward 1 race. He defeated incumbent Ronald Robertson, who got 140 votes (40 percent) in the Republican primary. John Shupe picked up 13 votes, or 4 percent.

In the alderman-at-large contest, Republican incumbent Donald Frazer edged his rival, former alderman Allen D. Holder. Frazer picked up 1,176 votes to 1,043 votes for Holder. That’s a winning margin of 133 votes.

In Ward 2, incumbent Bernie Parker got 266 votes, or 68 percent, while Shane Walker received 124 votes, or 32 percent.

There were three uncontested races for incumbents: Angela “Angie’’ Johnson in Ward 3, Timothy McCaffrey Jr. in Ward 4 and Mike Brown in Ward 5. Johnson got 197 votes. McCaffrey received 274 votes, and Brown garnered 499 votes.

As none of the Republican candidates have opponents in the general election, the results of the Republican primary (and the necessary runoff in Ward 6) will determine who the slate of newly-elected Long Beach officials at City Hall will be. New officials will be sworn in for four-year terms in July 2021.