By Ken Esten Cooke —
Mayor Linda Langerhans retained her seat with a close win over councilman Graham Pearson, while Charlie Kiehne and Bobby Watson won council seats in the three-person race in Saturday’s City of Fredericksburg Election.
With final counts being reported just before midnight, City Secretary Shelley Britton said all 29 charter amendments passed.
Langerhans, who also served as mayor in the 1990s, won by a vote of 534 to 490. Pearson will retain his seat on the city council.
Kiehne and Watson outpaced former councilwoman Kathy Sanford to win the seats held by Watson and Jerry Luckenbach, who did not run for re-election.
Vote totals were as follows:
Mayor
Linda Langerhans 534
Graham Pearson 490
City council - 2 seats
Charlie Kiehne 583
Bobby Watson 571
Kathy Sanford 523
Overall, 555 Fredericksburg residents voted early (held April 25 through May 3) and 474 voted on Saturday for a total of 1,029.
There are 7,243 registered voters in the city of Fredericksburg, making for a voting percentage of 14 percent.
Votes are unofficial until they are canvassed, which will take place this week.
“I’m very pleased I was re-elected and I’m looking forward to working with Graham, Gary, Bobby and Charlie these next two years,” Langerhans said. “It was a close election and that tells me a lot about the diversity in the community and how we need to work together and be united.”
Langerhans said turnout was similar to previous years. “It’s disappointing that when you have 7,300 registered voters that you get 14 percent to show up at the polls,” she said.
Pearson will retain his seat on the council until his two-year term is up next year.
“I’m not so disappointed with the outcome of my mayoral race as I am with the extremely poor voter turnout,” said Pearson, a native of England who moved to the U.S. after his university studies. “In some countries, people risk their lives to stand in line to vote. Here, the vast majority are either complacent or disinterested. Complacency will be the downfall of this wonderful country.”
Watson returned to the council for a second term.
“We have a couple of challenges over the next year or so,” he said, mentioning the relief route, the proposed sound ordinance and a potential conference center. “But I’m glad to be on the council and try to be part of the solution. We need to decide as a community who we want to be and find a balance between tourism and what our residents want.”
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