PORT GIBSON — Port Gibson will have a new mayor if unofficial results tallied by hand Tuesday night are not changed by affidavits and absentee votes to be counted today.

Based on the tally, Fred Reeves, 60, was the winner with 353 votes over two-term incumbent Mayor Amelda Arnold, who polled 169 votes. A third challenger, Charlene Davis King, trailed with 125 votes.

Because Reeves polled more than half, 54.5 percent, of the votes cast in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, he will be the new mayor of the seat of Claiborne County unless votes remaining to be counted force a runoff with Arnold. No Republicans or independents sought the office.

Tuesday night, a desire for new leadership in the city of 1,800 was clear at City Hall where about 100 residents gathered to find out who the winner would be.

“I just want a change,” said 22-year-old Lytesha Jones. “We always need someone to make a difference.”

Reeves said he wasn’t surprised by his win because of conditions in the city, to which he recently returned home. He previously ran for mayor in 1995 and 1999, but was defeated.

“They want a change. The people want a positive change,” he said. Port Gibson “is much different (than in other election years). We have no jobs. We’re in debt.” The city has been operating on borrowed funds despite being home to Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, one of the largest single generators of tax revenue in the state.

Reeves first plans to have an audit done to determine how much the city owes, he said.

“We need to see how we are fiscally responsible,” he said.

When he begins his term Jan. 7, he said, he will concentrate on jobs and economic development.

“I’m going to put together a staff and start moving the city forward,” he said. “I don’t intend to do any firing. I’m not about a clearinghouse.”

Reeves’ voters believe he is the man for the job.

“It’s real good,” Theresa Claiborne, 23, said. “He is an honest man and respectful.”

Arnold, 53, who first took office in 1999, said she was hopeful that the absentee and affidavit votes will bring about a chance for her to start a third term in January.

“I’m the mayor until all the absentee ballots are counted,” she said.

She, though disappointed with the initial outcome, will accept her defeat if the votes determine Reeves as the winner, she said. Regardless, she plans to work for her community — even if it’s not from City Hall, she said.

“I’m compassionate about the community. I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “There are still things I can contribute.”

For 44-year-old King, the election was her first try for a political office. And she was happy with the experience and even with the result, she said.

“I’m excited. I feel like we’re going to have a change,” she said. “I’m excited to see what’s going to happen. I support whoever comes out on top.”

King will move forward with her private behavioral health clinic, which she plans to open Nov. 26 in her guest house on Church Street — a plan she would have continued even if elected to the part-time mayor position. She had previously worked as a psychiatric nurse practitioner at the Claiborne County Hospital Outpatient Behavioral Health Clinic in Port Gibson before it closed its doors due to financial problems.

Reeves, who is a retired supervisor from the District 211 Illinois School District in Chicago, is an advocate for education and the elderly. One of his major plans is to provide more opportunities for youths in Port Gibson, he has said.

Nineteen-year-old Tullos Jones, who was voting in his first mayoral election, said that was one reason he voted for Reeves.

“He’s a nice guy, and he’s going to make a difference,” he said.

Reeves’ biggest supporter, Odessa Reeves, was perhaps the most excited for her son’s win.

“We need unity in this city, and I feel he’s in the position to do it — because I’m his mother, and I know,” she said.

Voters in Port Gibson also elected aldermen in three out of five wards in the city:

* In Ward 1, incumbent Eddie Walls Jr., won with 89 votes, over challenger Lula B. Buck’s 43 votes.

* Incumbent Ward 3 Alderman Kenneth Davis received 100 votes against challenger Sylvester Lockhart Jr., who received 30 votes.

* In an open race for Ward 4, Marvin Ratliff won with 83 votes against challenger Charles Stewart, who had 30 votes.

* Unopposed were Vera Johnson in Ward 2, Leslie Case in Ward 5 and Rev. Michael White in Ward 6.

The City of Port Gibson has a budget of $1.8 million. About a third of all Port Gibson revenue, $580,000, is paid to the city each year by Entergy.

The mayor of Port Gibson is paid $40,000, which was increased from $30,000 at the beginning of Arnold’s second term. Aldermen are paid $7,300, which was increased from $100.