Local candidates win contested races across three cities

Mary Jane Erwin won Flippin’s mayoral race over incumbent Heath Hogan by two votes in the final count, 156 to 154, after an earlier report showed preliminary totals. In Worthington, Amy Woitalewicz won the special election for the Ward 1 City Council seat with 65% of the vote; Mayor Rick von Holdt and Ward 2 council member Mike Kuhle were reelected unopposed. In Pensacola, Sherri Myers defeated incumbent Charles Bare, 1,338 votes to 1,122, returning to the City Council after being term-limited in 2022. Myers’ victory also carried political significance, as a committee aligned with Mayor D.C. Reeves supported her amid Bare’s past disagreements with the mayor.