BUCKHANNON — Councilman Robbie Skinner has been elected Mayor of Buckhannon, defeating the incumbent Mayor David McCauley by 12.7 points. Skinner successfully gained 54.8 percent of the vote, with McCauley receiving 42.1 percent. Mike Bodnar obtained 3.2 percent.
In an interview with Mountaineer Journal, Mayor-Elect Skinner expressed that he wants city council to ‘have a stake’ in setting the agenda, rather than making the agenda’s sole discretion dependent upon the mayor.
“I want all of the council members to feel that they have a stake in contributing to our agenda,” Mayor-Elect Skinner told Mountaineer Journal. “I don’t believe that the citizens of Buckhannon elected one person to run our community. I believe that the citizens elected 7 people. And I believe that anybody should be able to visit one of their city council members and that city council member should be able to handle any concern that they have. I don’t think that everything should have to go through the central command of a mayor. We do have a strong mayor form of government, but it’s not a government that I believe should ever be looked at as a dictatorship.”
Skinner also expressed that under his administration, he wants to establish organized and strategic plans to finalize projects within a timely manner.
“From an agenda standpoint, I want to create a strategic plan and complete projects in an orderly and timely manner. For example: if there is a street that needs paved, the citizens on that street should know exactly when that street is going to be paved, what to expect, and when it’s going to be completed.
We need to develop a 5-year plan and really stick to it. That is beneficial to not just our central downtown core, but to all of our citizens that pay into our tax bracket. Obviously, our downtown is a crown jewel. I don’t want anyone to think that we’re just going to abandon it.
There’s 150 streets (more or less) in Buckhannon, and we’ve got some curbs to paint and we’ve got some street signs to repair. So, little things go a long way. We’re going to tackle those.”
The Mayor-Elect concluded that he is ‘looking forward’ to working with city council, hoping to bring some of his acquired knowledge from his experience serving as a councilman to his position as Mayor.
“I’m just really looking forward to working with the council. I’ve served on city council. I understand what it means to be a city council member. I think that helps me bring a unique perspective to the Office of Mayor, going from the legislative branch to the executive branch that our charter provides for.”
According to data provided in exit poll research, 50 percent of Skinner supporters said the candidate quality that mattered most in deciding how they voted for mayor was that ‘he is honest and trustworthy.’ Additional results found 16.7 percent said Skinner will ‘bring much needed change,’ 11.1 percent said ‘he cares about people,’ 11.1 percent said ‘he has strong religious views,’ 11.1 percent said ‘he is the lesser of two evils,’ 5.6 percent said ‘he is intelligent,’ 5.6 percent said ‘he is a strong leader,’ 5.6 percent said ‘he has clear stands on the issues.’
Data provided in exit poll research showed, 30 percent of McCauley supporters had individualized reasons why they supported the current mayor. 20 percent said McCauley is ‘honest and trustworthy,’ 20 percent said ‘he is a strong leader,’ and 20 percent said ‘he is the lesser of two evils.’ 10 percent said ‘he is intelligent.’
Skinner won a massive estimated 85.7 percent of Republican voters, along with 42.9 percent of Democratic voters. While McCauley won most Democratic voters (57.1 percent), this sizeable chunk gained by Skinner definitely placed him over the top. McCauley only gained 14.3 percent of Republican voters, revealing a massive loss of his conservative and moderate-republican supporters from the last election.
In 2016, McCauley told The Washington Post, “You could not move to Buckhannon and settle into a public position without being a Republican. I can do my job better when people say, ‘He’s one of us.’ ” He also expressed to the news outlet that he voted for Clinton, he’s pro-abortion rights, and pro-gay marriage.
In addition to McCauley’s far-left policy proposals, these remarks did not resonate well with Republicans, which ultimately contributed to the massive rebuke by GOP voters on Election Day.
Skinner substantially won female voters by 7 percent, also winning male voters by 5 percent.
As Mayor, Skinner will be serving a four-year term, which will expire in 2024.