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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

Skip Watkins Loses City Council Race, but Says He'll be Back in 2015

Courtesy City of Wilmington

In yesterday’s municipal elections, Wilmington’s three incumbent city council candidates kept their seats, beating out three challengers. Kevin O’Grady, Charlie Rivenbark and Earl Sheridan will all begin new four-year terms. Mayor Bill Saffo, who ran unopposed, will also continue to serve the city for another two-year term.

As election returns came in at City Council Chambers in downtown Wilmington, there were tense moments when Earl Sheridan and Skip Watkins traded places for the third open seat on Council.  Once it was clear Earl Sheridan had pulled ahead of Skip Watkins, applause broke out in Council chambers.

Skip Watkins says he was surprised by the results, but a famous song from a Tony Award-winning musical says it all. 

“What’s the song from Little Orphan Annie?  Tomorrow, Tomorrow…”

Come 2015, says Watkins, he’ll have a sharper edge and will be gunning for a seat on Wilmington’s City Council again. 

We know that the people of Wilmington spoke tonight.  And we feel very confident that there was a move for a change and unfortunately, it just wasn’t big enough of a change.”

Incumbent Earl Sheridan kept his seat by slightly more than two percentage points.  Watkins says the incumbents had an edge because they’ve done good things for the City.

Rachel hosts and produces CoastLine, an award-winning hourlong conversation featuring artists, humanitarians, scholars, and innovators in North Carolina. The show airs Wednesdays at noon and Sundays at 4 pm on 91.3 FM WHQR Public Media. It's also available as a podcast; just search CoastLine WHQR. You can reach her at rachellh@whqr.org.