Patrick wins Mayor’s Race

After nearly four months of campaigning, speeches and forums, public appearances, commercials, interviews and endorsements, Warner Robins finally has its answer. LaRhonda Patrick will be occupying the mayor’s seat for the next four years.

The road to this point has been a long one. Three candidates, incumbent Mayor Randy Toms, LaRhonda Patrick and Stephen Baughier began this race in August, after qualifying. Quickly, they each developed their own camps, each of them reaching out to the citizens of Warner Robins in their own way. Each of the candidates made sure to attend several forums, putting their ideas on view for citizens to judge, while developing their growing bases. Each of them put feet on the ground, meeting and talking to citizens in the streets.

Finally, October rolled around, and campaigns came to an end. The candidates set up their watch parties and waited for results.

At 9:00 p.m., Tuesday, November 2, the mayoral election was deemed too close to be decided. Toms led the three with 3,290. Patrick followed with 3,197. Baughier, tailing behind, came in with 746 votes. With no candidate taking a 51% majority, the election went into a run-off. Toms and Patrick would campaign head-to-head over the next month, vying for the majority vote on November 30.

Days passed, and as they did, campaigns became more heated, both candidates debating they could do a better job leading the city. The campaign group, Toms for Mayor, leaned heavily on the citizenship’s desire for public safety, calling Toms the “law and order candidate,” in comparison to Patrick, who they argued would be “soft on crime,” and even insinuated that the challenger would defund the police. Many voiced concerns that these commercials were a sign of “dog whistle politics,” in Warner Robins.

Patrick and her base snapped back, refuting claims that she would defund the police and making her stance on public safety clearer. Patrick’s base made ads of their own titled “Liens, Lawsuits and Lies,” citing information on the city of Warner Robins’ current state, such as their $800,000 federal tax lien, or the 15 lawsuits currently pending against the city.

Early voting took place between November 22 and 24. A week later, November 30, campaigns came to a close and the candidates settled in, as polling places closed and votes began to be counted. Election results would be available in due time. Patrick held a watch party, hosted by The Pond on Moody Road. Toms, according to his spokesperson, elected not to have one. At The Pond, Patrick’s friends, family and political allies gathered around her, watching tentatively as local news sources released preliminary results.

Early vote numbers and absentee ballot votes were counted first. The results gave Patrick an early lead with 2,105 votes followed by Toms with 1,496. As the night went on and more votes were counted, those numbers remained close. Finally, the results were in.

At 9 p.m. on November 30, with 4,559 votes, 325 votes in the lead, Patrick was named mayor through a fair election, conducted by the Houston County Board of Elections. Those gathered around the newly elected head of Warner Robins cheered and hollered, excited for the years to come.

The Journal was able to get a brief moment with Patrick after her win. “We didn’t start this campaign with much in our hand. We didn’t have many resources; we didn’t have a big team. What we had, was courage. Courage and faith are what got us to today,” Patrick said. “This victory is just one step in a long process. There is a lot of work to be done in our city. We all know the challenge we face together, but I know that we can get through victoriously, just as we did the impossible.” Patrick will be the first Black woman to be elected to the position of Mayor for Warner Robins. Patrick thanked the team who helped her reach these heights, and the party continued.

With a final count of 4,234 votes, Toms was not able to breach his opposition’s lead. Although the Houston Home Journal did attempt to reach him, Toms did not provide a comment on his loss.

With Patrick in the mayor’s seat, Toms will leave his position in January. Patrick’s official term will begin on January 1, 2022

HHJ News