Bryan Caldwell wins Gulfport City Council Ward 2 runoff election

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Bryan Caldwell and Ron Ruland are set to advance to a runoff election for the Ward 2 City Council seat in Gulfport

GULFPORT, Miss. (WXXV) – Unofficial results for the Gulfport City Council Ward 2 runoff election show Bryan Caldwell will take over the seat vacated by former councilman Ron Roland back in April.

As of Tuesday night, Caldwell received 713 votes and Ron Ruland received 626 votes.

There were 6 mailed-in ballots.

“I’m just so appreciative and humbled that voters of Ward 2 voted to send me to the city council, and I look forward to hitting the ground running and trying to do my part in uniting the city and pulling the same end of the rope and taking Gulfport where it needs to go,” said Caldwell.

He also shared what some of his top priorities are for when he takes office.

“From the time we started this campaign, I’ve said that public safety is my number one priority. We have a shortage of police officers and a shortage of firefighters. Those positions are budgeted, but we can’t fill them because we’re not paying our men and women enough. Second, and this came to light with the bad weather ten days ago, is drainage and infrastructure. We’ve got to do better in that regard. There are a lot of people that got water in their homes that didn’t even as recently as Katrina, and we got to fix that,” he said.

Ron Ruland also shared a statement on social media after results came in:  

“Unfortunately, the results were close, but it was not the outcome we had hoped for. I have called Bryan Caldwell and congratulated him on winning the race. I want to thank all of my supporters, volunteers, and my wife for their incredible support in this effort. I love Gulfport and look to continue to serve her faithfully as I have these last 35 years since leaving the US Air Force.
“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” —Martin Luther King Jr.”
The Municipal Election Commission will meet on July 8th to certify the election results.
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