MORGANTOWN — Incumbents ruled Election Day as the city’s voters returned Joe Abu-Ghannam (1st Ward), Danielle Trumble (5th) and Brian Butcher (7th) to Morgantown City Council for the next four years.
In a replay of 2021, the 7th Ward race between Butcher and Ben Mayle ended up being the election’s closest, with Butcher besting Mayle 889 to 762.
“I’m happy to be reelected,” Butcher said. “We worked really hard. I want to thank the people who came out and supported me and all the people who helped work on my campaign. I’m just happy to be able to serve.”
In the 1st Ward, Abu-Ghannam picked up 993 votes to defeat James Giuliani (592).
“I’m just ecstatic,” Abu-Ghannam said as his family cheered in the background. “I’m just so happy and proud the city’s residents trust me to help push the city forward.”
Trumble, currently the city’s deputy mayor, picked up the most votes in a contested race, defeating Marly Ynigues 1,193 to 441.
“We’re partying,” Trumble said from her election night headquarters at 123 Pleasant Street. “I appreciate all the support and I appreciate everyone who made the effort to get out and vote today. It has been one of the great honors of my life to serve the people of Morgantown over the last two years. Great things are going to happen over the next four.”
When the new council is sworn-in July 1, the lone newcomer will be Louise “Weezie” Michael, who garnered 1,224 votes in an uncontested race to claim the 3rd Ward seat.
“I can’t wait,” she said. “There’s a lot of good things we’re going to do. We have a lot of work ahead of us … We have a pretty big agenda, but I think we’re going to get it done.”
A total of 1,697 ballots were cast, which constitutes a 12.98% turnout due in part to the lowest number of registered voters on the books (13,094) since the 1999 election.
In the 2021 election, 1,517 ballots were cast out of 19,246 registered voters for a turnout of 7.88%.
Butcher said he appreciates everyone who got out to vote, but the city has to do better.
“We’ve got four years now, so hopefully I can work on getting the elections moved. I think that should be something we look at as a priority,” he said.
All vote totals are unofficial until canvassing is completed.
