A familiar face is back in the mayor’s office in the city of Eupora.
Lamar Dumas ousted Blake McMullan, another former mayor, during Tuesday’s runoff election with 336 votes in comparison to his opponent’s 285 votes.
Dumas was first elected mayor in 2017, becoming the 1,949-person city’s first Black mayor. In 2019, he lost to McMullan by a mere five votes. This past September, McMullan resigned after a dispute with the board of aldermen over the city’s police chief.
According to a now-deleted Facebook post, McMullan was against Eupora retaining Police Chief Lawrence Caradine. At the time, the first-term mayor said he offered solutions to a problem he noticed within the department, and the board rejected his proposals.
“I realize how much we have accomplished and how much we have left to do, but at the end of the day, right is right and wrong is wrong,” McMullan wrote. “I love the city of Eupora! You deserve better. I will have no further comment.”
Not long after, McMullan changed his mind and decided to try to get his seat back but to no avail.
