THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 8, 1996 TAG: 9605080404
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10F EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
Newport News voters rejected a comeback try Tuesday by Jessie Rattley, an educator who made history in the 1980s by becoming the city's first black mayor.
Rattley, 66, a 20-year City Council veteran who left office in 1990, had tried to make history again by becoming the city's first popularly elected mayor.
But she lost to the well-funded campaign of Joe Frank, 53, a lawyer, two-time vice mayor and eight-year council incumbent.
Frank easily defeated Rattley and the Rev. Marcellus Harris, 55, a Baptist minister, in a three-way race.
Until this year, Newport News City Council members picked one of their own as mayor.
Newport News City Councilman Chuck Allen defeated Dorene Wright and write-in candidate Michael Rogers for a four-year term in a new district drawn by the U.S. Justice Department, to increase black voting strength, in the southern end of the city.
Retired teacher Mamye BaCote defeated William Ferguson and Teddy Marks for a two-year term in the new district.
Councilman Alan Witt defeated Andrew Shannon and Pat Taylor for the at-large council seat vacated by Marty Williams, who was elected to the state Senate last fall in an upset win over Majority Leader Hunter Andrews.
In Hampton, incumbent Mayor James L. Eason won a fifth term in a rematch against City Councilwoman Linda E. McNeeley and Joseph W. Drewry, the same two candidates who challenged him four years ago.
Also in Hampton, Ross A. Kearney, Mamie E. Locke and Paige V. Washington Jr. were leading at deadline and were the apparent winners. The unsuccessful candidates were William C. Baker, Barry I. Epstein, Sanford Pankin, Gregory M. Twietmeyer and Ruthann N. Kellum.
KEYWORDS: NEWPORT NEWS CITY COUNCIL RACE ELECTION RESULTS
NEWPORT NEWS MAYOR'S RACE HAMPTON CITY COUNCIL RACE
HAMPTON MAYOR'S RACE by CNB