Sharon Jones wins Columbia Ward 4 race

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Sharon Jones took the win in Columbia's Ward 4 Council race against Ryan King and Dave Sorrell.

"I'm just really excited that things turned out so well tonight," Jones said. "This was a victory that we were anticipating, but not by this wide of a margin, I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the Fourth Ward and excited to get to work starting tomorrow morning, I prefer."

The vote was called at around 10 p.m. with Jones receiving 3,930 votes. Sorrell received 2,926 votes and King received 812 votes.

The seat was left open by councilmember Nick Foster.

Jones has been a Columbia resident since 2000 and has served on Columbia's Planning and Zoning Commission since 2020 and is now chair of the commission. Jones has noted a need for utility and infrastructure improvements.

Her profession is lobbying.

"The very first thing is getting this budget to a place where people feel good about it; whoever is elected should be in before the final vote is taken on the budget," Jones said. "That's going to be a steep learning curve, hit the ground running, that'll be the very first thing."

Jones adds that she also hopes to better help connect residents to the council.

"What I've heard a lot of is that city council right now isn't really accessible to folks; they don't feel like their voice is being heard. I want to make sure that that changes," Jones said.

Jones voted on Sunday and spent Election Day stopping by polling locations in the Fourth Ward to check on her campaign election volunteers.

"This has been a campaign that's all about grassroots and word of mouth and the groups that I've met with, whether it's at a small neighborhood party or a big meeting, like the LiUNA forum," Jones said. "This has all been about folks saying, 'Hey, I met Sharon, here's what I know,' to their friends and neighbors, so we have a wide cross-section of people from across the Fourth Ward."