By Brandon Martin
Incumbents Kathy Lawson and Chad Martin held onto their seats as the two top vote-getters in the race for Martinsville City Council, as newcomer Tammy Pearson edged out the competition for the third spot.
Lawson garnered 3,318 votes in total, with votes from the Martinsville City School Administrative Offices emerging as the strongest with 409 votes.
Martin secured 2,732 votes, while Pearson secured 2,415.
Nelson Edwards and Jim Woods received 1,798 and 1,755 votes, respectively.
“I can finally let out a sigh of relief,” Lawson said. “I’m glad the process is finally done and I’m so happy that I get to continue serving the community.”
Lawson, who currently serves as mayor, said that she would be spending the rest of election night “picking up all my signs.”
As for the path moving forward, Lawson said that she would like to press forward with many of the city’s ongoing projects.
“We’ve got some buildings that are being renovated uptown and some really exciting projects that have a lot of potential, so I’ll be mainly focused on that in the upcoming year,” she added.
Martin said he was feeling “really good” after receiving the votes, adding the win was “an affirmation” of his candidacy. “I want to give shout-outs to everyone that ran this year. I feel bad about Jim because people don’t really understand the sacrifices he made to serve his city. I already knew the Mayor was going to get the most votes, but I do want to say congratulations to Mrs. Pearson, as well.”
Martin said he planned on laying low on election night, but he won’t stay still for too long.
“I’ve recently been working on a partnership with the state of Virginia and we will be getting 10,000 masks and hand sanitizer here soon,” Martin said. “We aren’t out of COVID yet, so now I really want to concentrate on getting those distributed and now it’s time to bare down on reversion.”
With 3,741 votes former Vice-President Joe Biden edged out President Donald J. Trump among Martinsville voters. Trump received 2,164 votes.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Alexandria, more than doubled the total of his challenger, Daniel Gade, with 3,932 votes. Gade finished with 1,880.
Ninth District U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, ran unopposed, and amassed 3,042 votes.
Both constitutional amendments on the ballot overwhelmingly passed in Martinsville, with 4,094 voted for Amendment 1 and 4,174 votes cast in support of Amendment 2.
According to unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections website, Trump won the lion share of votes in Henry County, garnering 16,601 to the 8,995 cast for Biden.
Biden only carried the vote in the Horsepasture #2 precinct and in absentee ballots.
Also, among county voters, Warner lost, with 10,466 to Gade’s 14,944 ballots.
Virginia’s 5th Congressional District was the closest contest in the county, with Bob Good narrowly beating out Dr. Cameron Webb, with 55.86 percent of the vote. Webb gained 3,112 votes, falling short of Good’s 3,949 total.
Griffith received 14,384 votes in the county.
Both congressional amendments passed in Henry County, with 63.48 percent voting for Amendment 1 and 88.32 percent supporting Amendment 2.
County voters also agreed to an increase in the local sales tax, with 12,847 votes for compared to 10,707 against.
Pearson could not be reached for comment on her win.
