Smith eclipses Steele in NLR

LITTLE ROCK — Joe Smith rallied his campaign supporters during the past three weeks to win a runoff election Tuesday against state Rep. Tracy Steele and become the first new mayor of North Little Rock in more than two decades.

Smith, 61, will take office Jan 1. He will follow six-term Mayor Patrick Hays, who announced in January that he wouldn’t try for re-election after 24 years in office.

With 29 of 29 precincts reporting, the unofficial results were:

Smith ............................. 7,535 Steele ............................ 6,234

Steele, 49, executive direc- tor for The STAND Foundation (Strive Toward a New Direction) in North Little Rock with 14 years in the state Legislature, had called Smith to congratulate him, Smith said, within 45 minutes after the polls closed. Smith never trailed in Tuesday’s vote count.

“How humbling is this?” Smith said to cheering supporters who serenaded him with chants of “Joe, Joe, Joe” as he worked through the crowd at his campaign headquarters at Lakehills Shopping Center about 8:30 p.m. “We got the message out, and y’all got the votes out.”

Smith has been the city’s commerce and governmental affairs director for 22 years under Hays, basically serving as Hays’ chief of staff and the city’s lead on major projects.

Smith campaigned on that management experience with North Little Rock and the need to continue the work that’s been done throughout the Hays administration.

But in the Nov. 6 general election, Smith trailed Steele, 48.3 percent to 41.1 percent, in a four-candidate field. Smith said the second-place finish energized his supporters for the runoff.

“Our supporters realized we couldn’t take this for granted,” he said in between hugs from well-wishers. “We knocked on 20,000 doors and made about that many phone calls to let people know how important this election was.”

With Hays holding office for 24 years, the general election was the first for North Little Rock mayor without an incumbent mayor on the ballot since Casey Laman retired in 1980 after two stints that covered 16 years in office.

In Hays’ tenure, Smith has often been assigned to oversee many of the major projects within the city, including the construction of the $40.4 million Dickey-Stephens Park baseball stadium, or fronting for the city in meetings with developers or businessmen interested in investing in North Little Rock.

Steele had emphasized the need for change in city government, saying he would be a mayor “for all neighborhoods,” a pledge he said had resonated with supporters and allowed him to lead the general election.

Smith said: “I think everybody finally realized what we have been doing has worked. They’ve seen the difference in North Little Rock from 20 years ago and now. It was hard getting that message out and it just took us three more weeks to do that.”

Both mayoral candidates were running for mayor in the city where they grew up.

Smith, the son of a North Little Rock police officer, graduated from North Little Rock High School, now North Little Rock High School-West Campus. Steele graduated from what was then North Little Rock Northeast High School. The schools merged in the 1990-91 school year.

“I’ve been blessed,” Steele said at a campaign watch party at the Wyndham Riverfront hotel after the night’s result was known. “Being a boy from Shorter Gardens, to have the type of legislative career I’ve had, I have just been blessed.

“I want to wish Mr. Smith well, and by wishing him well, I wish the city well, also,” Steele said. “It’s a city I still love.”

Smith said the extended campaign had “bruised our city somewhat,” with rants on social media sites being the main culprit.

“We can fix it and we can make North Little Rock even a better place and make central Arkansas a better place,” Smith said.

Steele is term-limited as the District 39 state representative that includes part of North Little Rock after two previous terms in the House. Before his current term that ends Dec. 31, Steele was elected to two terms in the state Senate.

“Once everything settles down, I’ll have a chance to reflect, and I will appreciate what we have done, for sure,” Steele said of future plans.