By T. Scott Boatright
The city of Grambling is in for significant change in its government following Tuesday’s election results.
Former City Council member Alvin Bradley, a Democrat, hauled in a majority 50.86% of the vote (383 ballots cast), outdistancing Democratic incumbent Edward Jones, who totaled 32.80% of votes (247).
Current Councilman Toby Bryan finished third with 8.23% of the vote (62) while LeShaun “Yummy” Johnson collected 8.10% (61) of ballots cast.
Jones was first elected as Grambling’s Mayor in 2010. He was reelected in 2014 and ran unopposed in 2018 (218).
Bradley did not return messages asking for comment late Tuesday night.
Jones said he was thankful for Grambling voters electing him for three terms and that he was proud of what he accomplished during that time.
“I’m thankful for the three terms I had,” Jones said. “That’s kind of unusual. I think the only (other) person who has served as mayor for three or more terms was our first mayor, BT Woodard. So I feel blessed. And I’m ready to move on. The people have spoken. This is my home and I want Grambling to prosper and I pray that the city does prosper.
“What I take away is knowing I’m leaving the city in a much better place than it was when I first became mayor. Remember the city was almost $1 million in debt when I took over and now we’re in no debt with no audit findings. You can see the progress made and still being made under my leadership. The administration and the City Council all worked so hard. It’s not just me. We just had a good group of people and so I’m thankful and ready to move on.”
Four of the 11 candidates running for Grambling City Council, which consists of five at large seats, collected more than 10% of the vote.
There will also be significant change to the Council with only Democratic incumbents Cathy Holmes and Phylis Miller running for reelection.
Democrat Delores Wilkerson Smith was the top vote-getter in the Board of Aldermen’s race with 13.91% of the vote (455) while Democrat John Brown Jr. followed close behind with 13.67% (447) of ballots cast.
Devaria Hudson Ponton, a Democrat, brought in 12.78% (418) of the vote while Holmes finished with 11.13% (364).
The battle for fifth place among City Council vote-getters was highly contested, with Democrat Jerry Lewis leading the way with 9.69% (317) of the vote.
Following close behind Lewis were Democrat Karen Ludley with 9.29% (304) of votes cast while Democrat Aundrea Livingson totaled 9.08% (297) of ballots.
Miller finished in eighth place among those receiving votes with 8.87% (290).
Rounding out City Council voting numbers for Grambling, Garrett Wagner II, who claims no party affiliation, took 4.47% of the vote (155); Democrat Marvin McCartney finished with 4.10% (134) of ballots cast and Democrat Kerry Blakemore earned 2.75% (90) of votes.
In Grambling’s 2018 City Council race, four candidates secured spots in the first round — G. Denise Dupree, a Democrat with 15.20% of the vote (586); Yanise Days, a Democrat with 14.42% of the vote (556); Holmes, a Democrat with 13.10% of the vote (505) and Bryan with 10.45% of the vote (403).
