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By Charlotte Reames

The West Point City Council will look a little different as a new face joined two incumbents in being elected Tuesday night.

West Point City Council incumbents Sandra Thornton and Jerry Ledbetter retained their seats with 515 and 457 votes respectively. Kevin Patrick gained the third spot with 504 votes. 

Three spots were open on the council this year. Since West Point uses at-large voting, the three candidates with the highest number of votes won the three council slots. 

Six candidates threw their hats into the ring for West Point city council this year. Andra Haynes received 360 votes to finish fourth, Aaron Lewis received 253 votes and Sean Moore received 42 votes.

Thornton said she looks forward to continuing to serve the senior citizens and youth of West Point. 

“I’m thankful to God and also the people for West Point who found it in their hearts to vote,” Thornton said. “And I would like to just say they always say don’t promise when you’re in politics, but I do promise that I will continue to be a servant to all of the citizens of West Point.”

In addition to her other priorities, Thornton said she hopes to cultivate better communication with the public. Thornton said she was pleased with the number of people interested in serving though she was glad voters chose experienced candidates.

“I must say also how extremely proud I am of everybody that ran for office,” Thornton said. “It’s not an easy job to just put yourself out there, and it seems like we have more younger people that decided to run.”

Ledbetter said the results of the election proved that citizens are pleased with the direction the city is going in.

“I think the city of West Point won tonight,” Ledbetter said. “I think the voters declared loud and clear that they approve of the path that West Point is on — a path of growth, a path of inclusion and a path of hope.”

As for his constituents, Ledbetter said he looked forward to continuing to work with Thornton and Mayor Steve Tramell, who won the mayor race. 

“I think he has served the city well, and I look forward to his continued leadership,” Ledbetter said. 

Ledbetter also said he was looking forward to working with Patrick on the council. This was Patrick’s first time seeking political office.

“I just want to thank the citizens that went out and voted,” Patrick said. “I thank my family for supporting me, my wife, my two sons, my family and friends. The community rallied to make it happen. So we had a lot of support.”

He said he hopes to get advice from his constituents and get to work on making changes that the citizens want to see. 

“My thing first off is to start working in picking the brains of the current council because they have more experience than me,” Patrick said.

As for the other city council candidates, Patrick said he hopes they remain serving the city of West Point in other roles. 

“They’re amazing,” Patrick said. “I would encourage them to continue being a part of the community like they have been, to serve on those boards and to continue to be active all while really working toward getting other people in the community to be active as well.”

Haynes said she enjoyed running for city council and is grateful for the citizens who voted. Despite not winning the race, she said she still plans to try to bring the concerns of the citizens to the council and mayor. 

“I plan to continue to listen to the public and listen to the citizens, and to be the voice that I planned on being in that capacity as a citizen,” Haynes said. 

Haynes congratulated the winners and said she wishes them the best.