Strickland edges out Grantham
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on November 5, 2014 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Jennifer Strickland reacts while giving a speech to a crowd at GOP headquarters Tuesday night. Mrs. Strickland upset 20-year incumbent John Grantham to gain the District 4 school board seat.
Jennifer Smith Strickland was ahead in the polls for the District 4 school board seat from the moment results starting pouring in after 8 p.m. Tuesday.
That held steady for the next 90 minutes, when the race was called and she pulled off an upset against the 20-year incumbent, and current board chairman, John "Phil" Grantham.
At GOP headquarters downtown, the mother of four buzzed back and forth between offices as early voting numbers were tallied, pausing only to kiss her husband, attorney Billy Strickland.
"I couldn't do anything without my husband. There's no more simple way to put it," she said. "Billy has always been my strongest supporter, and he has always pushed me to be better, to be myself. I couldn't do it without his support."
Their children at home with a godmother would not learn the outcome until today but will surely be excited, their mother said.
They had been ardent campaigners, she said, helping at the polls for part of the day.
"I'm really proud of her," Strickland said as they awaited the final numbers. "She's worked really hard. I know she's a workhorse so (voters will) get what they bargained for."
The couple are not new to the political arena, often campaigning for other candidates. This year, though, proved to be her year.
A graduate of Rosewood High School, her uncle, the late Lehman Smith, had held the school board seat for District 1 for nine years, from the late 1990s until 2006.
All four of the Strickland's children attend Rosewood Elementary School -- Billy III, a fourth-grader, twins Jack and Isaac, third-graders, and kindergartner Alexandria, whom they call "Fancy."
After a few glitches with computers and stalled results, the official results came in at 9:50 -- Mrs. Strickland with 2,723 and Grantham trailing by 218, with 2,505.
Mrs. Strickland stood up on a chair to address the crowd.
"I'm so excited to be standing here right now saying thank you for all of your support. It looks like we've done it," she said. "It's a little over 200 votes. I'm ecstatic. You work so hard to get to this point.
"I'm so thankful, the support I have had from the party, from friends, from neighbors. They have lent their expertise on how to run the campaign and I will work as hard as I possibly can to make some changes in Wayne County for our children that need to be made."
She said she had had some teachers tell her to hold on to her excitement and to her fervor.
"I may not get it all accomplished, but they'll know the issues. Everybody's going to know what's going on," she said.
Grantham was more low-key about the outcome.
"I have never been a politician, so I didn't go into building alliances with other candidates. That's all part of the game," he said. "I appreciate the support that people have given me over the years and the support that people gave me tonight.
"My opponent's been campaigning for about 18 months. I didn't start campaigning until about September. I have been busy trying to get schools built. I really didn't have a lot of time to start campaigning. But we did pretty good."