Charles Selmon won Tuesday’s runoff election by a margin of 271 votes and will be the Democratic nominee for mayor in the June 7 general election.

With the victory, Selmon, 44, advances to face one-term incumbent Mayor Laurence Leyens, 40; former Mayor Joe Loviza, 65, and Republican Shirley N. Smollen, 69.

“I’m excited and I’m looking forward to it,” Selmon said. “But, I think we’ve got our work cut out for us in the next two weeks.”

Turnout was down nearly two-thirds from the general election four years ago. “We’ve got to get out there and find out why the people didn’t come out and vote,” Selmon said.

Turnout for the runoff was also about 26 percent lower than primary voting two weeks ago, and both candidates said they were disappointed with the number of people voting.

“Somehow we did not generate enough interest to bring more people out, and I’m still trying to understand that,” said John Ferguson.

Ferguson, 63, lost to Selmon by a margin of 271 votes, but pledged to support the party nominee in the general election.

“I think (Mr.) Selmon ran a good race,” Ferguson said. “And he can count on my support.”

Unofficial tallies show 3,173 ballots cast with Selmon taking 1,722. Ferguson garnered 1,451, about 141 more than in the primary race, but not enough.

The total turnout for the runoff compares with 8,280 people voting in the general election four years ago. Leyens won that day with 4,271 votes – or 1,100 more than the total number of people casting ballots Tuesday.

Selmon, who led the four-candidate mayoral field two weeks ago, dropped 22 votes from his primary total. His strongest showing was in the American Legion precinct which includes much of the Warren County District 3 Selmon represents on the Warren County Board of Supervisors.

If elected, Selmon will have to resign his position as supervisor before taking office on July 4. The remaining members of the county board would have to appoint an interim supervisor and set a special election for this November to fill the vacancy.

Supervisors could be looking at two openings on the board with District 2 Supervisor Michael Mayfield, who defeated incumbent North Ward Alderman Gertrude Young for the Democratic nomination, also on the June 7 municipal ballot. Mayfield, 47, faces independent candidates Vickie Bailey, 37, and Tommie Rawlings, 42, for the city post.

In the South Ward, Democratic nominee Pam Johnson, 39, will challenge incumbent Sid Beauman, 57, a Republican, in the general election.