Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 4, 1994 TAG: 9405040157
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON and DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Republican Jack Parrott, a construction engineer, won his first political office by finishing third in the race for three four-year council seats. He benefited from a higher turnout in more affluent areas of the city.
"Big business came out big for Jack Parrott," said Republican City Councilman Delvis "Mac" McCadden, whose seat was not up for election. "It's as simple as that."
Democrat Linda Wyatt, an elementary school teacher, won her first elective office by taking about 54 percent of the vote in a special election for a two-year seat.
Wyatt received lots of support from union members, teachers and other less-affluent groups in what she described as a grass-roots, door-to-door campaign.
"Linda showed a lot of courage and a lot of work," said Henry Hale, a machine operator at Yokohama Tire who is a vice chairman of the city Democratic committee. "It just showed that regular, average people can get a chance in the political process - and in the Democratic Party."
The Democrats' majority on council dropped from 5-2 to 4-3. But they also maintained some continuity as voters re-elected Democratic incumbents John Edwards and William White.
Edwards, who was appointed to fill a council vacancy last fall, was elected vice mayor. He got 6,979 votes to lead all vote-getters in the five-way race for three four-year terms. Edwards attributed his victory to his advocacy of a well-rounded plan for developing the Roanoke Valley's economy. "I think people want a regional economic vision. That's the overriding issue. They want some hope and a sense that we do have some vision."
Edwards was followed by White (5,157), Parrott (4,932), Democrat Nelson Harris (4,481) and Republican Barbara Duerk (4,436).
Wyatt beat Republican John Voit by a 4,659-to-3,998 margin.
Mayor David Bowers, a Democrat, said the results showed that citizens are pleased with the current city government. "They told us they want to keep City Hall just about as it is. The people have told us - we're doing a good job."
For a while, it looked as if it would be a Democrat sweep.
The Roanoke Republicans who gathered in a Brandon Avenue office building were downcast through most of the evening when it appeared all their candidates were going to lose.
When television results finally showed Parrott edging into third place, he seemed to be the most surprised person in the room.
"No stuff!" he shouted.
Parrott won by running strong in the affluent parts of Southwest Roanoke - and better than Republicans normally do in the blue-collar neighborhoods of Williamson Road and Southeast Roanoke.
Republican businessmen from South Roanoke often have a hard time winning in what longtime GOP political operative Mamie Vest described as "basically a blue-collar Democratic town." But election night analysts in both parties had three quick takes on why Parrott broke that tradition: age, occupation and a lopsided turnout that was disproportionately Republican.
Gary Waldo, a lobbyist for the Roanoke Education Association and a key Democratic strategist, pointed out that Parrott ran a strong third in most of the Williamson Road precincts - neighborhoods where voters tend to be older.
"You've got older demographics there," Waldo said. "Some of these older people are going to vote for an older candidate." Parrott is a white-haired 66.
Republicans pointed out that, because Parrott is in the construction business, his business background has brought him in contact with many blue-collar voters.
The size and shape of the turnout also played a key role in Parrott's victory.
Overall, 10,022 of Roanoke's 39,814 registered voters turned out to cast ballots - some 25 percent. Four years ago, the last time Roanoke had a council election without a mayor's race, 31 percent of the city's voters turned out.
In some traditionally Democratic precincts of Williamson Road and Southeast Roanoke, turnout was only half what it was in 1990. At the same time, it was up in many Republican-dominated neighborhoods.
But while that may have allowed Parrott to slip past Nelson Harris for the third four-year slot, the turnout did not seem to harm Edwards and White. Both are well-known in Roanoke political circles and on good terms with the business community.
Wyatt, meanwhile, says she won by running "a real people kind of campaign. I'd say I probably had close to 200 volunteers."
Keywords:
ELECTION
by CNB