Jordan Takes Lead

Coody Concedes Victory In Mayor's Race

Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan looks up at the TV to see the latest results Tuesday evening as supporters show their excitement with the results during the post-election watch party for the city’s mayor race at Mexico Viejo in Fayetteville.
Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan looks up at the TV to see the latest results Tuesday evening as supporters show their excitement with the results during the post-election watch party for the city’s mayor race at Mexico Viejo in Fayetteville.

— Lioneld Jordan held a commanding lead over Dan Coody, who conceded in the race for Fayetteville mayor as Washington County election commissioners continued to count ballots late Tuesday.

With early, absentee and electronic ballots counted, Jordan had 11,192 votes (62 percent) to Coody’s 6,826 (38 percent).

“That shows me what we’re doing around here is working, and people believe in it,” Jordan said from a watch party at Mexico Viejo restaurant on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. “We’re going to continue to serve the city and be good stewards of taxpayers’ money.”

If re-elected, Jordan will be sworn in Jan. 1, said Sondra Smith, city clerk.

Coody, who waited for Tuesday’s results at the Fresco Cafe and Pub on West Center Street, said he was not surprised by early numbers.

“We knew this was going to be an uphill battle,” Coody said. “But we wanted to give the public a choice between the status quo and something we thought was better.”

Washington County released early voting numbers just after 8 p.m. Tuesday and electronic ballots about 11:30 p.m. Paper ballots were still being counted at midnight.

Tuesday’s election was not the first time voters have had to choose between Coody and Jordan for mayor. The two candidates squared off in a 2008 runoff election, which Jordan won with 5,796 votes (57 percent) to Coody’s 4,319 (43 percent).

Coody served as mayor from 2001 to 2008. Jordan represented Ward 4 on the City Council all of those eight years.

Jordan this campaign season has emphasized his administration’s efforts to rein in spending and maintain city services in an uncertain economic environment.

He said he will work in a second term to build a downtown parking deck; to widen and extend streets in a “box” around the city; to bring more pedestrian trails and public transit to Fayetteville; and to partner with other cities on regional projects, such as the deepening of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, which facilitates barge traffic from the Mississippi River to Catoosa, Okla.

Coody has criticized Jordan for a paid parking program that went into effect two years ago on and around Dickson Street.

Coody said, if elected, he wanted to extend College Avenue improvements that began during his second term; hire more police officers and firefighters; and convert the old Tyson Mexican Original plant at Huntsville and Happy Hollow roads into some type of incubator for startup businesses.

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