Norfolk council incumbents Winn, Hester win in superwards

NORFOLK

Barclay C. Winn and Daun S. Hester handily won re-election to the City Council on Tuesday, defeating a pair of challengers by wide margins.

Winn won more than 80 percent of the vote to garner a third term in Superward 6, which encompasses the city's west side and much of the northern part of the city.

Winn, 60, drew 4,073 votes to defeat Jack Stiles, a 37-year-old Ocean View political consultant, who had 628 votes. Fewer than 8 percent of the registered voters in the city turned out.

Winn also weathered a late write-in effort to elect Ocean View real estate agent Vic Yurkovic, vice chairman of the Norfolk Tea Party 2 anti-tax group. Most of the few hundred write-ins for Yurkovic were largely limited to precincts in and around Ocean View.

Hester, 52, won her fourth term with 75 percent of the vote over Dwight McDowell, 38, in Superward 7. That district contains most of central, southern and eastern Norfolk. Hester drew 2,276 votes to 703 for McDowell.

Both incumbents were backed by the city's political establishment, including Mayor Paul Fraim, and had a large cash advantage.

Winn raised nearly $36,000 and spent $14,000 in April alone. He had $70,000 on hand as of April 25. After he learned of the write-in campaign late last week, he spent thousands of dollars on a brochure that was mailed to constituents and paid for a service to call every voter in the city.

"You never take anything for granted," he said.

He said that's in large part because of an anti-incumbent mood he detected among voters. "I'm humbled that so many people cared enough to get out and vote for me," he said. "I had no idea it would be this overwhelming."

Winn won every precinct, racking up huge margins on the city's west side. At Taylor Elementary in West Ghent, he won 381-21 over Stiles.

Stiles did not do fundraising and spent less than $1,000 of his own money. Hester raised $13,400 and spent $8,600 in April. McDowell, who works for a Norfolk technical college, had raised less than $3,000 entering the final two weeks of the campaign.

McDowell, who said Hester has had a divisive influence on council, campaigned using the slogan "unity in the whole community." McDowell criticized Hester, who opposed the city's plan to elect its mayor at large, for not working with other council members.

His criticism appeared to have little influence on voters in her ward, who have supported her by wide margins in four consecutive elections. McDowell won only two precincts and ran far behind Hester in most.

Hester emphasized unity at her victory party Tuesday, noting that Councilman Paul R. Riddick, a former political foe, worked to help get her re-elected.

"The coming together of so many council members, especially the African American members, is important," she said.

"We've got to bring people together in this community. There is a lot of separation, even if some people don't want to talk about it."

Stiles criticized Winn for continuing to support subsidies for downtown projects.

Winn defended the subsidies, saying he hopes they can also be used to jump-start projects outside of downtown.

"Developing Wards Corner is right at the top of my list," he said. "And we need to work on making sure real estate assessments are equitable."

Hester talked about public safety after Tuesday's election.

"We're going to do all we can to make our neighborhoods safe," she said.

Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com