Bobo elected first Black mayor of West Point
Rod Bobo
WEST POINT — On April 6, Rod Bobo stayed at the Clay County Civic Center until well after midnight, waiting for the results of the West Point Democratic Primary, a race he eventually won by 101 votes over Cole Bryan.
If Bobo lost any sleep Tuesday night, it wasn’t from nervous anticipation.
Bobo, 48, an insurance agent and former one-term city selectman, easily outpaced independent challenger Homer Ryland Jr., with 1,644 votes (83 percent) to Ryland’s 330, thus becoming the city’s first Black mayor in its 163-year history.
By 9:30, when all of the votes had been counted, Bobo stood outside the Civic Center conducting TV interviews as a group of about three dozen supporters gathered around him.