MORGANTOWN — An unprecedented situation resulted in what is, by all accounts, a historic result.
Zack Cruze became the first write-in candidate to be elected to Morgantown City Council, garnering 734 votes in Tuesday’s municipal election, easily outpacing his opponents.
An emotional Cruze said he was grateful to get the support of the voters.
“I’m hearing there’s never been a write-in. I’m just so thankful to the residents of Morgantown. I got out there and I met and I talked to as many people as I could,” he said. “That’s the type of councilor I’m going to be. I’m going to talk to the residents of Morgantown. I want to hear their thoughts. I want to hear their opinions, and that’s how I ran this entire campaign.”
Cruze was one of three write-in candidates vying for the seat currently held by Ryan Wallace.
Wes Nugent ended up with 372 votes and Richard Dumas received 131.
Wallace announced in late March that he did not intend to serve a second term as he and his family are preparing to move to Toronto. Even so, he couldn’t remove his name from the ballot so close to Election Day.
Despite his being the only name on the ballot in the 3rd Ward, he only ended up with 199 votes.
“I think everyone did a good job of paying attention to what was going on in the city. That’s a testament to our residents that they’re engaged in our process,” Cruze said. “We may have had a lower voter turnout, but the citizens who came out are engaged. They want to know what’s going on with city council and in their city.”
Despite some hard campaigning in recent days, Cruze said he came into Election Day pretty relaxed.
“I felt pretty calm about it, but I didn’t expect those numbers,” he said. “Those totals are amazing.”
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BConley@DominionPost.com
