Suffolk News-Herald

Come January, Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Randy Carter will be changing offices in the Suffolk Courts Complex.

Carter can put his prosecuting career on hold for at least the next eight years, and step into the ranks as the city’s new Suffolk Clerk of Court after winning Tuesday’s election. Despite less than a 25 percent showing of the city’s registered voters, Carter beat out six opponents with 2,595 votes. Contender Kirk Pretlow didn’t trail too far behind with 2,467 votes, just 128 less than Carter.

&uot;I anticipated it would be a tight race,&uot; said Carter, who was celebrating his win with family and friends at the Elks Lodge on West Constance Road. &uot;With no incumbent and seven people in the race – six with no prior record of office, it was definitely a wide open race. It was certainly a see-saw race, people were up and down as the numbers came in.

&uot;All of the candidates are to be congratulated for running a good race,&uot; he continued. &uot;Between the seven of us, I hope we raised the level of awareness of what the clerk’s office does.&uot;

Other candidates include Clinton Jenkins, who pulled in 1,982 votes; Barbara X. Gayle, 1,669 votes; Robert Nelms, 697 votes; Johnnie Edwards, 656 votes; and Tony Brown, 228 votes.

Although disappointed by the close loss, Pretlow said he’s looking forward to returning to his law practice full time.

&uot;I congratulate Randy on a good race,&uot; he continued. &uot;I’m looking forward to digging back into things at our law practice. I’m disappointed not to have won. But if I had won, it would have been disappointing to leave the law practice. There are a lot of good people there too.&uot;

In other races affecting Suffolk residents, Sen. Frederick Quayle prevailed in the 13th district against Richard Ramsey. Sen. L. Louise Lucas held on to her seat in the 18th district in her race against Walter D. &uot;Walt&uot; Brown. Unopposed candidates in the House of Delegates elections representing parts of the city include S. Chris Jones, 76th District; Lionell Spruill, 77th District, and Johnny S. Joannou, of the 79 district, all of whom will return to Richmond.

Suffolk has 45,000 registered voters and just over 10,000 went to the polls on Tuesday.