Republican Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver will serve a third term on the Starkville Board of Alderman following a narrow victory in the General Election Tuesday against Democrat Christine Williams.
Carver finished with 349 votes to Williams’ 343, or just barely above 50 percent.
“I’m humbled and ready to get to work for Ward 1,” Carver said. “I’m so thankful the voters of Ward 1 have trusted me for four more years of leadership.”
Two affidavit ballots remain to be opened on Wednesday morning at City Hall.
Ward 1`saw 40 absentee ballots cast and 36 accepted. Of those accepted, Williams pulled in 24 of the absentee ballots while Carver received 12.
Carver, 36, works as a producer for Insurance Associates, LLC, and narrowly defeated Republican and political newcomer Jason Camp in the Republican Primary runoff.
Carver said he is looking forward to concentrating on the key economic development points and areas the city can improve, such as the sidewalk ordinance and landscape ordinance.
“There’s some things we can immediately do to address economic development and there are just some things I’m looking at to capitalize on,” Carver said.
Williams said she saw improvement in Carver’s civic engagement on the campaign trail and hopes he can find a way to connect with the other half of the Ward that voted Democrat.
“I hope going into the next term that Ben Carver uses this as a wakeup call and really starts to get on board with what people are interested in, and I think over the last 6 or 7 months he has tried to improve and get out and do some stuff so I hope that he continues along that trajectory,” Williams said.
Williams, 44, is a Ph.D student and teaching assistant at Mississippi State University.
She thanked her support system and said it was too early to decide if she would try her hand at politics again. She said she looks forward to teaching, finishing her Ph.D and being an engaged citizen.
“I’ve had a great support system and I’ve had some amazing people step up and give me leadership,” Williams said. “It’s going to be tough for a few days, with six votes, I can name six people I thought were going to vote and I talked to them and they didn’t for whatever reason.”
Williams then said it was obvious the citizens in Ward 1 wanted to see some improvements, especially considering that nearly 700 voters turned out to the polls.
“I think in every turn since the primary election started, in everything I’ve heard, every vote counts in a local election,” Williams said.