VALDOSTA — Incumbent Mayor John Gayle narrowly retained his seat in Valdosta City Elections, defeating former Fire Chief J.D. Rice by enough to avoid a runoff.

Gayle defeated Rice and a third opponent, Brooks Bivins, with 52.4% of the vote.  Rice earned 45% with Bivins garnering 3%.

In related races, Ben Norton retained his At-Large seat, along with Tim Carroll in District 5, and Sonny Vickers in District 3.  Incumbent James Wright was defeated by Vivian Miller-Cody, though the race has been forced into a runoff as no candidate earned 50%+1.

Other results include Stacy Bush winning the vacant At-Large School Board seat over Edward Mack, while Tad Mosely easily defeated challenger R.D. Martin for the District 6 seat.

Valdosta Today will have full coverage later this morning of these races and others contested in Tuesday’s election.