Council members Chris Snead and Billy Hobbs held their seats Tuesday night — and newcomer Chris Bowman landed a third seat — following the counting of thousands of absentee ballots overnight in the Hampton City Council race.
Snead, 64, got the most votes in the five-person contest, finishing with 8,901 votes, or 26.6 percent of the ballots cast, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.
Hobbs, 68, finished second with 7,192 votes, or 21.5 percent of the ballots, the results showed. That was just ahead of Bowman, 66, who garnered 7,151 votes, or 21.4 percent.
Bowman will take his seat July 1; Snead and Hobbs, both first elected in 2012, will begin their third terms.
The City Council had three seats up for grabs this year, including the one held by Councilwoman Linda Curtis, who is retiring June 30. Voters were asked to asked to pick three out of the five candidates running for the city-wide seats, with the top three-finishers getting elected.
Lance “Woo” Jones Jr., 38, had been in close contention for one of those seats Tuesday evening. After the in-person votes were counted that night, he was only 70 votes — or less than half a percentage point — behind Hobbs.
But Hobbs performed strongly with absentee ballots, extending his lead on Jones and outpacing Bowman for a tight second-place finish, the results showed.
A fifth candidate in the race, A.C. Cordoza, 30, garnered 3,288 votes, or 9.8 percent of the ballots cast. There were also 518 write-in votes, or 1.6 percent.
– Original Credit: Chris Snead
“I’m very humbled, to be truthful,” Snead said Wednesday. “And I’m very grateful that the citizens of Hampton felt compelled to vote for me again and knew that I’m very sincere about my job as a city councilwoman.”
She said she got some “negative press,” saying “the Second Amendment people were very rough on me.”
But Snead said she always makes decision after a review of the facts — “never for political reasons,” but “based on what I think is in the best interests of the city.”
“I think (the win) shows that people know exactly how I operated,” she said.
Hobbs, the second place finisher, said he’s looking forward to a third term on the council.
“I’m excited about the next four years,” he said. “Hampton is really close to greatness. And we’re gonna push this truck on down the road, and we’re gonna be great.”
With the vote tallies tight when he went to bed Tuesday night, he was wondering what he could have done differently. “I wondered if there was a box I missed,” he said. “What could I have done better?”
– Original Credit: Billy Hobbs
But he began getting calls of congratulations early Wednesday morning. The next term, Hobbs said, he will focus on “really rallying the business community.”
“We’re going to be more intense and more deliberate about what we do,” he said. “We’ve got to make business succeed in Hampton.”
Bowman, for his part, said he was looking forward to taking his new seat.
“I just want to thank all the citizens for their support and their votes and trusting me as a council member-elect,” Bowman said. “My primary platform was ‘Citizens First,” and clearly engaging and involving the citizens in decision making and expenditures and getting their input.”
– Original Credit: Chris Bowman
“I’m glad it’s over,” he quipped of the tough race. “But I’m humbled and honored.”
Though Jones didn’t quite get enough votes for a council seat, he said “this is just beginning” of his work in Hampton.
“I’m just happy that I was able to galvanize a generation of people who were never engaged in the political process,” he said. “Many went out to vote for the first time.”
Jones said he would keep working on initiatives he pushed for, especially the creation of a juvenile mental health court. “I’ll be back,” he said. “And congratulations to my opponents.”
Cardoza said he wasn’t altogether unhappy with his 10 percent vote tally, given that he entered the race only three months ago with only $1,000. “I think we did an excellent job, given that we started the race in February,” he said.
Late last year, he said, “I didn’t even know where the City Council met,” but joined the race only weeks after the council in January withdrew a resolution supporting Second Amendment rights.
“That’s what really sparked me joining,” Cardoza said. “If they had just voted against it, I probably wouldn’t have joined. But people didn’t want to be accountable for their vote. I am a transparency person. … I was tired of what was going on.”
Now, he said, he plans to stay politically involved in Hampton.
Three other Hampton council members — Vice Mayor Jimmy Gray, Eleanor Brown and Steven Brown — were not up for re-election this year.
Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck sailed to a new four-year term at the council’s helm in a separate race, winning 9,872 votes, or 63 percent. Chris Carter finished second, with 4,677 votes, or 29.9 percent, and Richelle Wallace came in third, with 1,019 votes, or 6.5%.
There were more than 5,000 absentee ballots cast, Hampton Voter Registrar Tara Morgan said Tuesday.
The 7,293 absentee ballots were mailed to voters this year compared to 343 in 2018, with Morgan attributing the increase squarely to the coronavirus pandemic.
Hampton has 95,253 registered voters. This year’s 15,641 voters were about 16% of the electorate, up from about 14% in 2018.
Unofficial results boxes
City Council
Chris O. Snead 8,901 (26.6%)
W. H. “Billy” Hobbs, Jr. 7,192 (21.5%)
Chris L. Bowman 7,151 (21.4%)
Lance “Woo” Jones Jr. 6,410 (19.2%)
A. C. Cordoza 3,288 (9.8%)
Write In 518 (1.6%)
Hampton Mayor
Donnie R. Tuck 9,872 (63.1%)
Chris C. Carter 4,677 (29.9%)
Richelle D. Wallace 1,019 (6.5%)
Write In 73 (0.5)%
Source: State Board of Elections
