From The Citizen Times, OCTOBER 7, 2009

Bellamy, 7 others advance in Asheville primary

Bothwell, Smith, Manheimer lead way in City Council race

BY Joel Burgess

ASHEVILLE — Mayor Terry Bellamy cruised in the first test of her re-election campaign while two City Council incumbents trailed challengers in Asheville primary races Tuesday.

Councilmen Carl Mumpower and Kelly Miller advanced to the Nov. 3 general election but fell short of votes gathered by challengers Cecil Bothwell, Gordon Smith and Esther Manheimer.

Those candidates, along with challenger J. Neal Jackson, will compete for three seats on the seven-member City Council. Councilwoman Robin Cape is not on the general election ballot, but is mounting a write-in campaign.

Bellamy far surpassed three challengers in an election marked by low voter turnout. Of Asheville's 64,061 registered voters, only 11 percent cast ballots.

Bellamy will face newcomer Robert Edwards in the general election.

The one-term mayor said she looked forward to campaigning for the general election and then hoped to “continue to do the work of the people.”

“To the voters: thank you first of all,” she said.

Bellamy, 37, said she took her margin of victory as an affirmation that voters appreciated her work.

Edwards, a 22-year-old hotel night auditor and waiter, is new to politics and said he would have little money to spend on a general election campaign but planned to concentrate on talking to voters and handing out campaign literature.

“It's humbling, and it looks like I've got a lot more work to do.” Edwards said.

Municipal primary elections typically don't get a lot of participation. About 13 percent of the city's registered voters cast ballots in the 2007 primary election.

North Asheville saw high voter turnout, especially at the Ira B. Jones Elementary School polling site and one at St. Eugene's Catholic Church.

Residents there cited development and affordable housing as the main issues that brought them to the polls.

“I'm interested in downtown development in general, but specifically the Basilica St. Lawrence because it's the most beautiful building downtown, and I'm afraid they're going to build some towering building in front of it and block it,” said city resident Anne Smith, who voted at St. Eugene's.