Roanoke City Democrats held a primary today to pick their three candidates for this May’s council elections.

Only four candidates were on the ballot, meaning there could only be one loser. Right? Well, not exactly.

Here’s my take on the results.

1) The biggest loser here is democracy. Voter turnout was an abysmal 3.8%. Give me a break folks. The leaders of Roanoke City have some HUGE decisions to make over the next four years, mainly related to the budget. Who you pick to lead our city will determine what gets cut and if we will have a tax increase. These are fundamental questions about the services Roanokers rely on. Yet, only 2,341 voters out of 61,386 potential voters bothered to show up and cast a ballot. That’s pathetic.

2) The top vote getter was incumbent Councilmember David Trinkle, barely. Trinkle got 1,693 votes compared to Ray Ferris’ 1,682. They were separated by a mere 11 votes which is very surprising given Trinkle’s name recognition in the city. He’s served on council for four years, two of them as vice mayor. He was the top vote getter four years ago. And his family has a long history in Roanoke. Ferris, on the other hand, is a political newcomer with very little name recognition beyond the legal and business community. Is this a sign that the voters are a little tired of the current Roanoke leadership and looking for something fresh?

3) Continuing with the Ferris thought, the Roanoke Times reported over the weekend that he raised as much money as the other three candidates combined. That’s an impressive total and shows that he has the backing of the Roanoke business community. That same community backed Trinkle and his independent ticket mates four years ago and they all won. In fact, if history is any barometer, the business-backed candidate almost always wins Council elections. Ferris also appears to have some backing from Roanoke Republicans. I had several try and sell me on his candidacy. All of this bodes well for Ferris, as does his showing in the primary. Nothing is a done deal, but he looks strong at this stage of the game.

4) On the other hand, Bill Bestpitch barely squeaked by. He defeated an under-funded community activist, Valerie Garner, by fewer than 40 votes. Bestpitch is a former member of council, a longtime Democratic Party member, and a well known figure in the community. Additionally, he campaigned hard, mailing out several expensive, glossy fliers. Given all that, his “victory” seems underwhelming. All Garner had to do was recruit 38 more supporters and she would have been on the ticket.

All in all, given the showing of Roanoke’s Democrats, I wonder if this isn’t a year for a strong Republican or independent ticket to make a serious run.