NEW BERN, N.C. (WITN) – Incumbent Mayor Jeffrey Odham has officially secured another term as New Bern’s mayor after winning Tuesday’s runoff election against candidate Holly Raby.
Odham celebrated his victory at The Kitchen on Trent, expressing his gratitude to his supporters.
“A lot of thanks to go around,” Odham said. “When I gave my campaign speech tonight, I told them that I knew I was going to miss somebody, but I just got to thank everyone who played a part in this victory.”
Official results show Odham received 52.84% of the votes, defeating Raby by a margin of 386 votes.
Raby requested the runoff after New Bern’s municipal election in October, where neither candidate achieved more than 50% of the total votes cast.
Raby met with supporters at his watch party on Tuesday night, where they watched as the election results came in. Raby says he reached out to Odham once the results were final.
“Well, I believe that we ran a good race,” Raby said. “ I want to say to the City of New Bern that we’re going to continue forward. I do want to say to the public, we called the mayor and congratulated him, and we wish him well.”
This is the first time that a candidate called the now two-term mayor after an election result.
“I certainly appreciate the call. I’ve won three contested races, and that’s the first time I received a phone call from somebody to congratulate me. I told him I appreciate that, and I respect him,” Odham said.
WITN asked Raby if he plans to run again for mayor, but Raby says it’s too early to say.
“We haven’t made a decision on that yet,” Raby said. “My prayer was, God let your will be done, and so we have peace with that. As far as what’s to come, it’s too early to say.”
As the runoff election results settle, Odham emphasized his commitment to representing all New Bern residents.
“For those who didn’t vote for me, really, the message I would have for some of them would be, I want to meet with them,” Odham said. “I want to set up a meeting, a handful of supporters from my component. The election is over now, and I really want to hear from them.”
The Ward 4 Alderman seat also saw a runoff. Lainy White defeated incumbent Johnnie Kinsey with 56.40% of the votes.
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