By Blake Deshazo | The Selma Times-Journal

Tuesday night’s election results were a defining moment in Selma’s history, as Darrio Melton was elected the city’s next mayor. Melton defeated former Mayor James Perkins Jr. with 61 percent of the vote.

“Those numbers say to me that people are ready to put what divided us so often behind us and to unify this city and to move to the 21st century,” Melton said. “That is very exciting to me to know we have so many people in this city who are ready for a change.”

Melton celebrated his victory Tuesday night at the George P. Evans Reception Hall on Water Avenue, where his family, friends and supporters greeted him with a roar of applause.

“The atmosphere was very humbling to see so many people excited about what we are about to venture into,” Melton said.

“I do know that this hasn’t been about me, so that’s why it is so humbling to know that people celebrate the vision that we have for the city.”

Melton won by 22 percent. He had 4,054 votes, while Perkins garnered 2,549 votes. Melton won five out of eight wards in Selma, winning all but wards five, six and seven.

Melton entered the race in June, just one month before the deadline to qualify for the election.

“When we got into this election, this wasn’t something that was even on our mind six months ago,” Melton said.

“We felt led to get involved in this race. We were driven to get involved in this race. We felt that we had to do something to make our city great.”

Melton said the race was tough, but nothing swayed him from his vision to lead Selma.

“During the run-off things heated up some, and even though they heated up some we stayed focused on our goal, we stayed focused on our message,” Melton said. “And that’s what we’ll do when we’re officially sworn in, stay focused on the plans that we have for this great city.”

Melton said his number one goal is making the city safe.

“Our platform has been safety is number one,” Melton said.

“People need to feel safe, and that will be a huge focus of city hall going forth from day one.”

Melton also wants to make sure city hall is transparent so citizens can see and understand what the city is doing and where it stands.

“This is a commitment that I make to them,” Melton said. “There will be transparency in city hall. There will be accountability in city hall … we will go forth in city hall with an attitude that will be very representative of the type of city that we are.”

Melton said the results of the election show that Selma is ready for change.

“We have some things that have transpired in our city in the past, but we don’t want to be defined by what happened in 1965,” Melton said.“That’s our history, and we embrace that, but we’re ready for the 21st century so we can compete with every other city throughout the state and throughout the nation.”

Melton will take over for current Mayor George Evans, who has served as mayor since 2008.

Perkins, who served as mayor from 2000 until 2008, was running for mayor of Selma for a seventh time this election.

“I thank Mr. Perkins for the contributions that he has made to our city,” Melton said of his opponent. “He was the first African American Mayor of our great city, and for that the history books will always tell that story about him being our first mayor. He did do some things in regards to paving the way for other people as myself to be involved in the city elections.”

Attempts to reach Perkins Tuesday night were unsuccessful.

The mayor and council take office in November.