Evelyn George is the new mayor of Newton, unofficial results show

Unofficial election results reported by the Jasper County Auditor’s Office show the race for mayor of Newton ended in a slim margin win for Evelyn George, who received a mere 13 more votes than fellow candidate and at-large council member Randy Ervin.

Out of a total of 2,616 valid votes, George received 911 votes (34.82 percent), while Ervin received 898 votes (34.33 percent). Lonnie Appleby, who launched a second campaign to run for mayor after running as a write-in candidate in 2021, received 798 votes (30.50 percent).

In a phone interview with Newton News, George said she feels very honored to be selected by the voters; she wanted to give them a choice in leadership and direction. George is excited to begin working closely with community leaders and citizens in order to continue moving the city forward.

“So many people have worked hard to get where we are today and we’ve got a lot of momentum,” she said. “I really did decide to put my name on the ballot to give the voters a choice in the leadership style and how we would work together collaboratively with other community leaders and citizens in the community.”

The approach George said she will bring to Newton is her abilities to listen and seek to understand other points of view in order to find more common ground to work towards common goals. Another strength she would have, as mayor, is her focus on processes.

“When you have a good process by which you gather information and evaluate, you come up with stronger decisions,” George said. “For me, I see the mayor as the CEO of the community who sets a tone for the leadership and how we’re going to work. I’m really looking forward to having that opportunity.”