Magruder Wins Decisive Victory to Become Wheeling’s Next Mayor
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WHEELING - The city’s most prominent municipal race came to a decisive conclusion Tuesday night as Denny Magruder emerged as the clear winner in a hard-fought, six-way race to become the next mayor of Wheeling.
As election results were tallied precinct by precinct Tuesday night in Ohio County, Magruder pulled ahead of the pack and never lost hold of his lead. The unofficial vote total in the Wheeling mayor’s race saw Magruder garner 2,622 votes. He received nearly 37% of the total votes cast and nearly 1,000 more votes than his closest competitor.
City Councilwoman Rosemary Ketchum received 1,643 votes or just over 23% of the total votes cast in the race. Candidate J.T. Thomas took nearly 19% of the total votes with 1,337, Vice Mayor Chad Thalman claimed around 15% of the total votes with 1,065, Beth Hinebaugh received 382 votes (5.38%) and Carl Carpenter netted 43 votes (0.61%).
"I can’t thank people enough," Magruder said Tuesday night at Generation’s Restaurant and Pub, where family members, friends and supporters gathered to watch as results were announced after the polls closed. "I’m extremely humbled, and I’m ecstatic here tonight, as you can see. I want to say thank you, certainly to my family, to my campaign team and to all of the voters that voted for us."
Magruder, 76, has been on the campaign trail for nearly a year. He was the first person to throw his hat in the ring to become Wheeling’s next mayor, announcing his candidacy back in early June of last year. Eventually five other candidates joined the race, and coming into election day, even the candidates seemed to agree that there seemed to be no obvious frontrunners.
"I also want to say thank you to those other five candidates," Magruder said. "They worked really hard. They put their whole heart and soul into it. A few weeks ago in a debate I mentioned that my dream was that after May 14, all six candidates would join hands and hearts, and I mean that. It will take some time because first we need to sit down with the new council and the administration, and get things in order, but I intend to reach out to these other five candidates who have worked so hard and who have so many good ideas to see how we can make Wheeling a better community."
A community leader for decades in the Friendly City, Magruder retired from his post as executive director of WesBanco Arena and the Capitol Theatre in October 2022 after serving the community as an award-winning leader in entertainment facilities management for more than 36 years.
With a longtime love for the city and more time on his hands in retirement, Magruder said it was time to try to give back to the community that has given so much to him.
"I see a lot of good things continuing to happen," Magruder said. "We’re going to finish the Streetscape. We’re going to continue to work on the issues such as homelessness. We’re going to work on economic development. And that’s not going to be Denny, that’s going to be council and the city’s team."
Magruder has a proven track record as a leader, but he indicated that his strength is the ability to pull people together and achieve success as a team. He said he hoped to bring more citizens into the fold to bring the city into the next four years.
"I think you accomplish things when you have people working together," Magruder said. "Everybody feels the success, and Wheeling’s biggest asset is its people."
Magruder - like the other winners in the Wheeling’s city council ward races - will take office beginning in July and will serve a four-year term. He will take over the seat held by current Mayor Glenn Elliott, who is completing his second term in office and could not run for re-election because of term limits. Elliott is the projected winner of the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat in West Virginia and will face Gov. Jim Justice, the Republican nominee, in November.