Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Walling Wins Flint Mayoral Primary; Will Face Brenda Clack in General Election

Joe Lawlor of The Flint Journal reports:

"Dayne Walling won big in a six-way primary race to be Flint's next mayor.

"Walling got 44 percent of the vote, securing a spot on the August ballot.

"Walling will face Genesee County Commissioner Brenda Clack, who held off a late rally by former city administrator Darryl Buchanan for second place.

"Clack won 16.2 percent of the vote, beating Buchanan by 14 votes.

"Walling entered the UAW Local 651 hall just before 10 p.m. to thunderous applause from supporters. Flanked by his wife Carrie and sons Bennett and Emery, he said, 'I think we are on our way to a victory tonight.'

"He vowed to strengthen his campaign through the August general election.

"'We need to build a bigger and better coalition,' he said. "That's what I'll be doing every day."

A few miles away, Brenda Clack held her right hand over her heart as the final results came streaming in to show she eked out a primary victory by a mere 14 votes.




4 comments:

  1. I urge everyone to click on the link Gordon supplied and read Dayne Walling's political website. I came very close to yelling out
    "unf****ng believable!" in a room of co-workers when I saw Flint is home to an Oxford schooled Rhodes Scholar who wants to be its next Mayor. I admit I'm insulting my old hometown, by wondering out loud why someone of that calibur would even be intertested in governing half-dead Flint. That said, more power to him and the best of success in the upcoming election and beyond.

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  2. I hate to be a devil's advocate Gordie, but to have a link for Dayne and not Brenda just seemed a little too biased. So here's a link I found for Brenda.

    http://www.publicbroadcasting.net
    /michigan/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=
    1499394&sectionID=6610

    If the link doesn't work, just google her name, and you'll find something.

    One of the litmus tests I have for figuring out who will win an election, is to pick the candidate you would most likely want to invite over to dinner.

    I know nothing about either candidate, but if I went by pictures provided here alone, I'd be rooting for Brenda.

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  3. The dude cares about Flint, and is sticking it out to try and help. That's more than can be said about most.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Agreed, Grumkin. I did search for one but couldn't find a campaign website for her. Thanks for tracking this down. I'll put it in.

    I also wondered if it was fair to but Walling's photo above hers, but decided that since he was top vote getter he got top billing.

    Brenda, if you're reading this, my apologies.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.