YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Election night may have been a week ago, but tonight, officials announced the final tally on a tight race in Mahoning County.
The wait is over, but the work has just begun.
“I’m excited. I’m nervous. I’m anxious to start representing the people in my ward,” said Amber White, 7th Ward councilwoman elect.
Thursday night, the Mahoning County Board of Elections certified the results from the Nov. 7 general election. It officially brought an end to a highly contested race for the 7th Ward seat on Youngstown City Council.
“Definitely a lot of sleepless nights, thinking it over and exploring every opportunity. What you could’ve done differently, what we could’ve done more of, less of,” White said.
The final margin was just nine votes. Independent candidate Amber White beat out two-term Democrat Basia Adamczak and Josie Lyon.
“I knew that [it] was going to be close. It was close the last election and with this being a three-way split, I knew,” White said.
Despite it not being White’s first foray into local politics — she ran a write-in campaign for mayor two years ago — the campaign trail for council was a grueling one.
“The extent that it went and as far as it went was a disgrace to elections, campaigns, to our ward specifically,” White said.
Now, her waiting turns to anticipation for what she wants to accomplish when she takes her seat in January.
“Safety is such a priority. I’m hearing it almost on a daily basis. People want to know how money is being allocated — where it’s going, how it’s being spent,” White said.
