Free Republic

<p>Margaret Croft/The News-Star Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo addresses his supporters after being re-elected Saturday.Incumbent Jamie Mayo will get another full four-year term as the city's mayor.</p> <p>By a comfortable margin, Mayo defeated challenger Don Spatafora on Saturday in Monroe's mayoral runoff election. Complete but unofficial results showed Mayo with 55 percent, or 7,649 votes, and Spatafora with 45 percent, or 6,209 votes.</p>

<p>Mayor Jamie Mayo and challenger Don Spatafora reiterated their campaign themes of bringing more jobs to Monroe and cutting wasteful spending from the city's budget at the meeting, which was sponsored by the University of Louisiana at Monroe and The News-Star. The one-hour forum also featured repeated verbal sparring between the candidates.</p>

<p>This week's voting in the Monroe mayoral election may have been a watershed moment in the way the city's voters support their candidates for mayor.</p> <p>The results of Tuesday's municipal primary election showed voter support for runoff candidates Jamie Mayo and Don Spatafora clearly along racial lines, with Spatafora gaining 44 percent of votes in majority white precincts and Mayo getting 51 percent of votes in majority black precincts.</p>