HAMPTON — Former assistant city manager and fire chief Jimmy Gray will return to Hampton City Hall as a member of City Council for half a term after a win in Tuesday’s special election.
Gray bested opponent Edwin Boone with more than 70 percent of the vote, according to the complete unofficial results from the Virginia State Board of Elections.
He’ll fill the remaining two years of an unexpired term, left open when Councilman Donnie Tuck had to resign his seat to run for mayor.
“I learned a lot about what Hampton citizens think about their city and their government” during the campaign, Gray said Tuesday evening. “One thing that was a recurring theme was people’s concern about crime and not feeling safe and that’s going to be high up on my priority list.”
Gray, who retired as Hampton’s assistant city manager in 2014, made clear that he was in support of many existing city policies and expressed a desire to “finish what had been started,” including on issues of economic development.
Gray has said his background with the city means he can get up to speed much faster and be more effective in the abbreviated term than others could.
This is Boone’s second election loss running for City Council. He received less than 20 percent of the vote in a 2014 special election against Linda Curtis.
Boone said he entered the race so that Gray wouldn’t run unopposed and criticized Gray as another member of the ruling cadre already on the council — a group that includes the city’s former budget director Chris Snead and, until his loss Tuesday, former city manager George Wallace.
Results
Edwin “Peanut” Boone: 3,612 votes (28.17%)
James “Jimmy” Gray: 9,090 votes (70.88%)
Source: Virginia State Board of Elections