CITY ELECTIONS: Frank “Chris” Lee defeats Tuskegee Mayor Tony Haygood
Tuskegee City Council member Frank “Chris” Lee has defeated incumbent Tony Haygood in the runoff for mayor.
Haygood, who was first elected mayor in 2016, congratulated Lee earlier tonight. Unofficial results show the race was decided by 73 votes.
Both candidates and their supporters campaigned outside the Tuskegee Municipal Complex where voters steadily came to cast their ballots. A little over 300 more people came out to vote than in the August 26 election.
Both candidates said the younger voters made a difference in the outcome of the race.
“I was so glad to see the young people turn out today,” Lee said. “We had young people from the Tuskegee community and also from Tuskegee University. They represented today. And it’s about getting young people involved in the process. I’m just an extension and I look to connect even more with young people moving forward to help the city grow.”
“It was a short period of time for a runoff,” Haygood said. “And then we still had other responsibilities going on because we’re just now announcing a second industry that we’re working on and other projects that were in the middle of. It just took a while to get the things done, but I appreciate all the support from the people who came out to work to try to get us over the finish line, but we just didn’t quite make it.”
