10:06am: Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval

Goodwin ready to roll up sleeves and get to work in Charleston

CHARLESTON W.Va. — Amy Shuler Goodwin is starting to catch her breath after a heated campaign season.

But after knocking on over 11,000 doors in Charleston and listening to voters, Goodwin, now mayor-elect of the city knows she won’t be able to catch it for long. She will now turn her attention to transitioning into the office and hitting the ground running.

“This election has never been about me,” she said Wednesday on MetroNews ‘Talkline.’ “Our team walked to all those doors because we really felt that connecting with voters in every area and every neighborhood of the city was the most important thing.

“We brought new ideas and a promise of a new direction. When we brought those to folks, that is what they wanted and that is where they wanted our city to go.”

One of Goodwin’s goals that she discussed on MetroNews ‘Talkline’ was to make downtown Charleston appealing to young people again.

“More younger folks want to live in a downtown and be within walking distance,” she said. “We’re really going to have to think what has not worked in the past, but what is going to work in the future, that means creating a robust, downtown environment where folks can live.”

It was a historic victory for Goodwin over Republican J.B. Akers and Independent Andy Backus.

She becomes the first female mayor in the Capitol City’s history.

“Folks felt that over the past couple of years, we were watching the mass exodus of our young people in the city, we watched crime go, we watched our taxes go up, and felt very stagnant.”

The unofficial final tally in the race was 51 percent for Goodwin, with Akers collecting 45 percent and Backus four percent.

Goodwin will take over the seat of Danny Jones, the longest-serving mayor in the city’s history, who has held the office since 2003. Jones was elected to replace incumbent Charleston Mayor Jay Goldman, who had lost renomination in the Democratic primary.

Both Jones and Goldman endorsed Akers in this election.

Akers said in a Facebook post Tuesday evening: “Congratulations to everyone who won on the ballot this evening including Mayoral winner Amy Shuler Goodwin. I hope all of them succeed in making this a better place for our families. Thank you to all of our supporters for your investment of time and resources. This is a wonderful place to live and I am sure our best days are still ahead!”

Akers and Goodwin sparred about issues this election, but she now knows it is time to unite as a city.

“Charleston has a lot of problems right now. I have said from the beginning of this campaign is that problems have solutions. We can’t solve these problems if we are not together. This was a heated race. We were relentlessly positive during this race because I do believe that is where we have to be.”