Ron Littlefield won election as mayor of Chattanooga in Tuesday's balloting, gathering over 54 percent of the vote in a race that was expected to be neck in neck.

Final totals:

Ann Coulter 12,873 45.76%
Ron Littlefield 15,224 54.11%
Write-in Votes 37 0.13%

Manuel Rico won the District 7 City Council race for the right to succeed John Taylor.

Debra L. Matthews 860 44.98%
Manuel Rico 1,045 54.65%
Write-in Votes 7 0.37%

With 95 percent of the vote in, Ann Coulter thanked supporters and acknowledged defeat.

Ms. Coulter said, "My mother taught me a long time ago that you can be anything you want to be. And this city can be anything it wants to be."

Mr. Littlefield, amid jubilation at his headquarters on 11th Street, said, "I am ready to get down to business over the next six days to get the city government organized - without anyone having to wonder who's in charge."

He said his primary focus will be to improve the job picture in Chattanooga.

On the subject of the RiverCity Company, which was the most bitterly fought issue of the campaign, Mr. Littlefield said he believes Dan Johnson's recommendations on conflict of interest policies are valid and should make RiverCity a better organization.

Mr. Johnson, who came in third in the March 1 election, later endorsed Mr. Littlefield and was at the headquarters celebration.

Mr. Littlefield said he plans to keep Police Chief Steve Parks in place. He said, "He has just been installed by the council and it would not be productive to start that process all over."

He said he will be looking at other positions in city government.

Mr. Littlefield accepted congratulatory calls from Congressman Zach Wamp, Mayor Bob Corker and County Mayor Claude Ramsey.
Mr. Ramsey had attended an Ann Coulter breakfast on Saturday morning.

Mr. Johnson said it was a victory of "message over style. People started really listening to Ron's message after March 1 and his numbers kept going up. People also came to realize that if she got elected she wouldn't be the mayor."

Ms. Coulter is a former executive director of the Regional Planning Agency and executive vice president of the RiverCity Company. Her campaign far outspent the Littlefield campaign.

Mr. Littlefield said he became optimistic after campaigning door to door with Mr. Johnson. He said, "People would point to Dan and say, 'I voted for you.' Then they would point to me and say, 'Now I'm voting for you.'"

Councilman Leamon Pierce, a staunch Littlefield supporter who put up a "Run Ron Run" sign at his bonding business early in the campaign, called it "one of the greatest days in the history of Chattanooga. Just anybody can't break the back of the power structure."

Will Smith, another strong Littlefield backer, summed up the election, saying, "There's mo po folks than rich folks."

Dale Mabee, Littlefield campaign manager, said, "We won because we had an excellent candidate, a good message and lots of grassroots support."

He said being outspent by such a wide margin "made it very tough, but we made up for it in hard work and organization. A lot of good people who were very dedicated to Ron worked night and day."

Councilman Pierce said the Littlefield campaign "must have sent out a million pieces of mail. That was more effective than all the TV ads."

Mr. Littlefield is a veteran City Council member who resides in Brainerd. His replacement on the City Council will be Marti Rutheford, who came out in support of him.

Chattanooga has never had a woman mayor.

Mr. Rico operates Rico Monuments in St. Elmo, which is his home community. Ms. Matthews is a veteran member of the County School Board, who lives in Alton Park.

Mr. Rico becomes the first Hispanic member of the Chattanooga City Council.

He said while checking results at the election office, "I'm just glad it's over. I am ready to get to work.

"Our district is probably the poorest of the nine districts and I want to find out what I can do with the help of other council members to improve the district."

The turnout was just over 30 percent.

Ms. Coulter won just 12 precincts - Bushtown, Courthouse, Howard, Lupton City, North Chattanooga 1 and 2, Ooltewah 3, Riverview, St. Elmo 1 and 2 and Stuart Heights 1 and 2.

Her biggest win was in Riverview - 358 to 177.