It’s official. After a week of counting, Richmond Registrar Kirk Showalter confirms that Dwight C. Jones won six of nine districts to secure the mayoral election.

Election officials spent the better part of a week counting an influx of absentee ballots in the hotly contested Nov. 4 election. The city registrar’s office was inundated with 12,000 pre-election day ballots, and they not only had to be counted, but assigned districts where the voters lived. The office also...

Big cat sightings in Bon Air and Salisbury in Chesterfield County began more than a week ago and continue to roll in at the Chesterfield Police Department. Hysteria grips these close-knit communities, with residents fearful of what may be prowling in their backyards.

What exactly it might be remains in question, with some local media outlets speculating that it might be a black market African lion or tiger somehow gotten loose. Or, perhaps it could be a Mountain Lion that strayed...

Mayor-elect Dwight C. Jones has announced his mayoral transition team.

Among those announced are former Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney David Hicks and former city Chief Administrative Officer Sheila Hill-Christian, whose short tenure under Mayor L. Douglas Wilder ended with a press release from Hill-Christian complaining that her ability to lead had been compromised.

Administration and City Hall insiders have intimated that the compromise was largely over interference by...

Richmond Voter Registrar Kirk Showalter says that her office's accounting of still outstanding ballots from Tuesday's election already has changed the mayoral race landscape.

After counting all in-person absentee votes for the Third District, that race now appears to be leaning -- just barely -- in favor of presumptive Mayor-elect Dwight Jones.

The election-day upset of Richmond School Board Vice Chairwoman Lisa Dawson has opened a power vacuum on the board. Two members -- one a veteran member and the other a new face -- are vying to fill that vacuum, according to School Board sources.

First district Board member Kimberly M. Bridges and the incoming 3rd Distrcit representative Norma Murdoch-Kitt both have begun campaigns to assume the chairman post, which is now up in the air after the...

Donnie "Dirtwoman" Corker, Richmond's most infamous 450-pound drag queen, says he was nearly denied his right to vote during Tuesday's election.

Corker, a former Richmond mayoral candidate who threw his endorsement to City Council President William Pantele, says he arrived at his Southside Plaza polling station yesterday in full drag -- ready to pull the lever for his candidate.

Once there, Corker says he presented a valid photo identification card, but a poll worker...

The City Registrar's office continues to tabulate the results from the remaining 8,000 absentee ballots at 2:30 a.m., with no official word yet on whether Jones' slim lead will hold. One batch of absentees, released by Registrar Kirk Showalter just after 2 a.m., had Jones padding his lead over Bill Pantele by another 47 votes in the 3rd District, which would appear to solidify his mayoral victory. But that figure doesn't include a smaller batch of absentee ballots calculated earlier in the...

At Gallery5, about 175 people listened to Strike Anywhere while results rolled in. Jenny Friar, a nonprofit consultant, voted, but she declined to pull the lever for a mayoral candidate.

“I didn’t vote for any mayoral candidates because I didn’t like any of them. It was very hard on me not to, because I had such pride in the presidential candidate,” she says. “I wasn’t in a mode for picking the least-worst candidate.”

Curtis Grinstead, the musical director at...

Gov. Jim Gilmore fell way short in his bid for senate, but Rep. Eric Cantor maintained his seat. Republicans gathered at the Richmond Marriott West in Innsbrook. Click for photos by Scott Misturini

Winners are marked with asterisks.

Mayor
Paul Goldman (dropped out)
Robert J. Grey Jr.
*Dwight C. Jones*
William J. "Bill" Pantele
Lawrence E. Williams Sr.

City Council

District 1
*Bruce W. Tyler (uncontested)*

District 2
Tyron K. Bey
Patrick D. Kjellberg
*Charles R. Samuels*

District 3
Jonathan D. Davis
*Chris A....

Whoever becomes the new mayor will be dealing with a virtually identical City Council to the one that Mayor Wilder butted heads with.

With the results from most Richmond precincts in, it appears that all the incumbents will retain their seats, with one exception. In District 2, Charles R. Samuels seems to have a lock on the race, ahead of candidates Tyron K. Bey and Patrick D. Kjellberg. It was the only open seat

A couple of City Council appointees are sticking out in the sparse crowd at mayoral candidate Delegate Dwight Jones' party at the Paradise Lounge. Joining in the celebration are Jim Hestor, the city assessor, and Umesh Dalal, city auditor.

Also spotted: City Councilman Bruce Tyler (uncontested tonight), Delegate Joe Morrissey, J.J. Minor, vice president of the City Democrats (and son of City Councilwoman Delores McQuinn) and Henrico County School Board member Lamont Bagby....

Dwight Jones may have sealed a victory in the Richmond mayor’s race. Results from the Maymont precinct in the 5th District, the poll results of which were outstanding, now are unofficially reported as 2-1 in Jones favor.

Although Richmond officials continue to count some 8,000 absentee ballots, workers with Jones’ campaign just walked out of the Richmond registrar’s office all smiles.

See what our photographers have been capturing all day. And check back under our Multimedia Tab for updates throughout the night.

The Election Night festivities may be happening somewhere, but it doesn't look like the downtown Omni's bipartisan results-watching bash is bringing them in. One guest estimates the number of partygoers at approximately four. But there were balloons, some staff members wearing Uncle Sam hats and a screen to watch the returns.

You might have better luck at The Camel, 1621 W. Broad St.

We've hit the 33 percent mark for Virginia election returns. So far, it's McCain with 53.02 percent; Obama with 44.25 percent.

What about locally? Richmond precincts have yet to report.

After analyzing some 40 Web-related measures, including site traffic, YouTube viewers, search engines and social networking sites, Richmond-based Madison+Main, Advertising & New Media, is betting on Barack Obama to win the presidency.

Dave Saunders, company president, writes about his team’s findings, naturally, on the firm’s blog.

Some of the stats...

Voters stay in line at the voting precinct at Mini City Hall, at 701 N. 25th St., where more than 3,500 had voted by 2 p.m., says election officer John Gerner. Despite the...

For official election results as they come in, click here.