RIPLEY, W.Va. –The City of Ripley will soon have a new leader.
Following the results of Tuesday’s primary election, Richard H. Gobble II was elected as the next mayor of the city. Gobble defeated challengers Steve Donohew, Vince Riff, and Dwayne Pugh in the nonpartisan race. However, only nine votes separated Gobble and second-place candidate Pugh.
Because the vote totals were close, the outcome now comes down to canvassing, which is conducted to ensure that every valid vote is included in the final results. Officials will know after the canvass is completed whether the results change.
Gobble will take office July 1 at the end of current Mayor Carolyn Rader’s term. Rader, who served five consecutive terms as mayor, chose not to seek reelection.
Gobble said he is excited to continue the momentum the city has seen under Rader’s leadership.
“Pretty excited, Mayor Rader’s been a great mentor to me over the past four years to kind of get me to where I need to be right now to step into the city, and I’m looking forward to continuing all the projects that we’ve got going on and just being a good ear for the community and really helping out as much as I can to keep moving things forward,” he said.
Rader was first elected to the position in 2007 and served four consecutive terms before running in the 2022 primary election.
Gobble said he is ready to begin his work as mayor.
“I’m a team player and I live off the mindset of us and them and the current city employees that we have here, I think it will be nothing but really good moving forward with everything we’ve got going on, plus the citizens, I know everybody around here and I think it will be very beneficial in the long run,” he said.
Gobble said he believes it is important to be a visible, active mayor, especially in a small town such as Ripley.
“You’re out every day talking to people, you need to be a good ear, and you need to work with what you have here in the city and build off of that for all of us,” he said.