Little Rock elects first black mayor

Democrat Frank Scott on Tuesday was elected mayor of Little Rock, Ark., becoming the first African-American to be elected mayor in the city’s history.

Scott defeated Republican Baker Kurrus in a runoff election, winning about 58 percent of the vote, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Scott and Kurrus had each advanced to the runoff election from the general election.

{mosads}Scott previously served as a state highway commissioner under Gov. Mike Beebe (D). He is currently an executive at First Security Bank, a bank based in Arkansas.

Little Rock has had two other black mayors, but both were appointed mayor by city directors and not elected by voters, according to USA Today.

Scott said Tuesday that his campaign was about “unifying our city.”

“For the voters that did not vote for us, I want to earn your support,” he said, according to the Democrat-Gazette. “Because our mission and vision started on September the 12th, 2017. People thought it was funny, but we wanted to talk about unifying our city.”