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On Tuesday, LaGrange City Councilman Mark Mitchell defeated challenger Curtis Brown for the LaGrange Council 1C seat.

The incumbent councilman Mitchell easily held onto his seat winning by a large margin, just over 56 percentage points.

Mitchell received 1162 votes (78.04%) compared to Brown’s 327 (21.96%).

“I’m very pleased with the results. I want to thank all the voters in District 1 that came out to support me and I appreciate it very much,” Mitchell said. “I’ll do my best to represent them the best I can for the next four years.”

Councilman Mitchell said that his focus will be on helping end the violence that has been plaguing LaGrange in recent months.

“We’ve got to get this public safety under control, and it doesn’t fall just on police backs but or public safety’s backs. It’s going to have to be a multi-faceted approach to try to get these crime stats down,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said he believes his public safety background and record gave him the victory.

“I feel like the voters trust me with my public safety background in these difficult times that we’re having in our city. I personally believe that has a lot to do with it,” Mitchell said.

“I appreciate everybody taking the time to come out and support me and hopefully

we can get to right to work tomorrow,” Michell said, adding that he also wanted to thank his wife of 34 years, Diana Mitchell.

Brown congratulated Mitchell on the win and said he plans to stay involved in the LaGrange community.

“Nothing’s changed with my commitment to the community. That’s who I am,” Brown said. “I still have my board and commission seats. I’m planning to stay active and plan to keep the community close at heart.”

Brown did indicate that he regrets not putting out more political signs.

“Congratulations to Councilman Mitchell, but I should have put out more signs,” Brown said.