<strong>By Mindy Lucas</strong>

Beaufort City Councilman Stephen Murray won the mayor’s seat by what appeared to be a wide margin as of press time Tuesday night.

Murray, 39, his wife, Melissa, who served as his campaign manager, along with twin daughters, Genevieve and Josephine, celebrated with a campaign party for supporters Tuesday night at Panini’s on the Waterfront.

While the percentage forecasted a win for Murray as high as 64 percent as of midnight on Tuesday, a large number of mail in ballots had not been counted as of Wednesday morning.

“I think we ran a good campaign,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>good message and a good ground game,” Murray said late Tuesday night.

Going into the election, the Murrays knew early voting was going to be an important factor in a year that has seen many exceptions to the rule, due to COVID.

“We knew it was going to be different and going into it, we knew it was going to be a marathon rather than a sprint. I’m just really proud that our team came through those challenges,” he said.

Issues such as economic development, building a stronger more diverse economy, development and historic preservation have all been recent issues the candidates faced.

Murray will be sworn in as mayor in December.