Guccione Wins in Wentzville

Nick Guccione said he had tears in his eyes when fellow Alderman Leon Tow called him to congratulate him on winning the four-way Wentzville mayor race.

Guccione won Tuesday's mayoral race by about 8.5 percent over Tow, the second place finisher. Darrel Lackey finished third, followed by Bill Schuette.

• Bill Schuette: 337 votes, 11.65 percent
• Nick Guccione: 1,224 votes, 42.32 percent
• Leon Tow: 976 votes, 33.75 percent
• Darrel Lackey: 351 votes, 12.14 percent
• Write in votes 4 votes, 0.14 percent

Guccione said he believes his win is because his message focusing on jobs resonated with Wentzville residents.

“People are hurting,” Guccione said at his Wentzville home, where friends gathered to celebrate with him. “For five years as alderman, I’ve reached out to people, helped them with their problems. When they see that you care, it resonates with people.”

He said he plans to be open to residents, having frequent meetings in neighborhoods, even pitching open tents to meet with neighbors.

“I’ll bring the meetings to the people, and ask, ‘Hey, what’s your issue?’” he said.

He said Wentzville has a lot of things headed in the right direction, such as the GM plant adding workers, a new Sam’s Club and other

Mike Melson, from the United Auto Workers, said he had always supported Guccione. He said Wentzville should lead the way in St. Charles County growth.

“With the growth at GM, Wentzville will get an influx from suppliers and people moving here, building houses,” Melson said.

Guccione said he will work with aldermen, although all three aldermen who won elections Tuesday were at Tow’s campaign watch party.

“The campaign is over,” Guccione said. “We’ll work together to move Wentzville forward.”

Tow gave up his Ward 1 alderman seat to run for mayor. He said he has no plans to run again, but he added he wouldn’t rule it out.

“Never shut the door,” he said. “Somebody always can get their foot in it.”

He said, “We have a very good board that will work together to make things better in the city, and that’s encouraging.”

Two close races

Sonya Shryock won the closest election of the night, edging Jeremy Pritchett by 10 votes, less than 1 percent. Donna Sherwood was 151 votes back.

Pritchett emailed Patch to say that he plans to request a recount, as allowed by Missouri statutes in elections decided by less than 1 percent.

“I was surprised it was that close,” Shryock said. “Usually you win big or lose big. You don’t expect to win by 10 votes.”

She said she wanted to thank all her supporters in her first race for an elected position.

“I couldn’t have done it without so many people opening their doors and their hearts.

Incumbent Rick Stokes won re-election in easy fashion, taking 56 percent of the vote over Rod Stratman and Curtis Davis.

“I was elected in a three-way race two years ago over an incumbent, so I wasn’t going to take anything for granted,” Stokes said. “I didn’t want to think I could not be beat.

“I congratulate Nick on his election,” he said. Stokes said he was also enthusiastic about Shryock winning and Forrest Gossett’s win in Ward 1.

Gossett edged Jay Webber by just 15 votes.

"I'm deeply gratified,” Gossett said. “My opponent ran an honorable race as did I. It was about the issues. I'm delighted, but the challenge is ahead to serve."

See more Wentzville election results.