It feels a little like deja vu.
Ward 2 made a decisive choice for its representative.
The Ward 1 and Ward 3 races are headed to a runoff again.
Vera James, Tommy Abbott and Joe Lewis are still campaigning after Election Day.
And R.L. Jones is the candidate with the most votes in Ward 3.
Tuesday night's election yielded some familiar results, locally.
Like the 2010 election, the Ward 1 and Ward 3 Council seats will be determined by a runoff.
It has to be a little frustrating for Vera James, who finds herself as the leading vote-getter for the second straight election, but has to continue to compete for votes after the first Tuesday in November.
In 2010, James had 91 more votes than Stan Parks, who won the Ward 1 Council seat in the runoff, 588-566.
James had the most votes again Tuesday night with 593 (44.52 percent), but Abbott was on her heels with 551 (41.37 percent).
Abbott can certainly empathize with James, after losing a squeaker to Mayor James Sanders, 1,613 to 1,579, in the 2010 mayoral runoff. In the 2010 regular election, Abbott was nearly the city's top office holder, but he received less than the required 50 percent plus 1, getting 1,741 votes, or 45.36 percent to Sanders' 1,412, or 36.79 percent.
In my opinion, Ward 1 has two outstanding choices, certainly both are high-character individuals who are in a familiar position.
Over in Ward 3, last time around, Lewis lost a runoff to Councilman John Musgraves, 369-349. Lewis was second in that race as well, trailing Musgraves 231-214 on Election Day.
Tuesday night, Jones had the most votes in Ward 3, 565 (39.49 percent), but not quite enough to avoid a runoff. Lewis had 385 votes (26.90 percent), just good enough to hold off third-place finisher Tony Betts' 314.
Prior to running for Blytheville mayor and dropping out in the 2010 race late, Jones had won each Ward 3 seat bid fairly easily, while serving on the Council for 16 years.
He was really unthreatened most of those election cycles.
Also, for years, former City Councilwoman Shirley Connealy and Councilwoman Shirley Overman were virtually unchallenged in Ward 2. Councilwoman Missy Langston won her Ward 2 seat by 123 votes last year after Connealy declined to run again. This year, Overman opted not to seek another term after 12 years on the city's governing body, and Kevin Snow ran for Overman's seat, winning easily Tuesday night by getting 64 percent of the vote in a three-person race.
Snow may be a newcomer to city government, but he has been in the audience at most every Blytheville City Council meeting the last several months.
Even before running for office, Snow spent a lot of time observing how the Council operates, presumably picking up tips along with way.
He and the rest of the 2013 Council will have their work cut out for them.
There are a number of challenges ahead, but hopefully what will be three freshly minted members and three two-year seasoned Council members will work well together and be up for each favorable and testing situation that comes their way.
mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com