Incumbent Vernon Robinson, arch-conservative and anti-gay bigot, loses Winston-Salem City Council race to Democratic newcomer Molly Leight

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According to an article published by The Winston-Salem Journal, two-term incumbent Vernon Robinson has lost his South Ward seat on the Winston-Salem City Council to Democrat newcomer Molly Leight. Arch-conservative Robinson, a Republican known for his "in-your-face" and somewhat distasteful campaigning, lost to Leight 1,665 to 922, according to unofficial election results last night. With the loss of Robinson, the Winston-Salem City Council will become strongly Democrat, with only one Republican on the Council remaining. According to the article:

The loss also marks a big turnaround for Robinson just a year after he nearly catapulted himself into the U.S. Congress. In 2004, after one of the most expensive primaries nationwide, Robinson lost in a runoff to Virginia Foxx, who went on to win the 5th District seat. Last night, after seeing that he lost some of the key precincts in his ward, Robinson called Leight to congratulate her. "She ran a very skillful campaign," he said. Leight, interviewed at a victory party at Salem College, said that her campaign plan was to charge ahead. While canvassing, Leight said, she frequently heard from residents complaining that with Robinson, "we might as well not have a council member as far as the response." As part of her platform, Leight, 60, promised to be a responsive council member. Residents said they also have been offended by some of Robinson's tactics. James Shockley, a South Ward resident attending Leight's victory party, said he felt that from the time that Robinson was elected to the council in 1997, "he did nothing but run for other office. I just was like, anyone but him." Robinson's loss comes after a campaign that lacked some of the high-profile stunts of previous efforts. For example, last year, after announcing for the 5th District, Robinson brought national attention to Winston-Salem but endured strong local criticism when he placed a 1-ton granite monument of the Ten Commandments and the Bill of Rights in front of City Hall without permission. The monument was removed by city crews. In the campaign against Leight, Robinson mailed out fliers with a photo of two young men, whom many inferred were Hispanic, carrying assault weapons and sawed-off shotguns. The message said that Robinson, not Leight, would protect families against criminals. The tactic backfired in some cases. "Probably the biggest thing I heard, including today at the polls, was that it was time for a change, and things couldn't go on like they were," said Carol Faley, who was also at Leight's victory party.

Robinson has no plans to run for office again soon. This year's loss for the City Council shows a continuing trend in the decline of the number of voters choosing him. "In 1997, he won about 2,500 votes. In 2001, he had about 1,900. Yesterday, he tallied a little more than 900, barely half of Leight's total." ====== Now, everybody... let's not forget the stunt he pulled with me... the damned homophobe used me to try to get himself elected to office. Back in April 2004 (see April 4, 2004 Journal article) I held a protest against the membership policies of the Boy Scouts of America and guess who found out about it and was there to "show his support of the Scouts"? Yup... you guessed it... Vermin Robinson. Robinson even went as far as to call me a militant homosexual on his website (unfortunately that part of the site no longer exists). I don't remember being militant... gosh... I don't even think I had a pocket knife on me that day (which is really sad for a former Scout). But you know... I'm glad Robinson decided to be an idiot that day. It kind of made me feel good that, as an 18 year old senior in high school, I was having an all out political battle with a like 40 or 50 year old Republican candidate for the US Congress. To bad he lost that race... I could have continued my fight against him in Washington. But the good thing is that the voters have, well, voted and spoken their piece and it basicaly boils down to this: "Robinson... you are a bigot and you care about no one but yourself. Good bye." Sorry Vermin.... you've been exposed and kicked out... Hope it was fun while it lasted because now you are only part of history and you know how the saying goes... the winners write the history and, well, it sure as hell won't be homophobic bigots like you writing today honey. Other important Winston-Salem City Council Results

• Mayor Allen Joines, who ran unopposed is, of course, still Mayor.
• Robert Clark (West Ward) will be the only Republican on the City Council (I went to school with his niece... she's is a cool girl).
• Dan Besse remains as the Southwest Ward Councilmember (includes my neighborhood of Burke park and others in the Ardmore area, as well as Winston-Salem's three hospitals).