Dems make Senate choice

McKissick picked to fill vacant seat

DURHAM -- Durham County Democrats selected their party chairman, lawyer Floyd McKissick, to fill a vacant state Senate seat Monday night.

McKissick defeated MaryAnn Black, a former chairwoman of the Durham County Board of Commissioners, 44 votes to 38, on the fourth ballot in a special election to fill the term of the late Sen. Jeanne Lucas, who died March 9. The term runs through 2008.

"I hope that we can leave here united as a party," McKissick said as the meeting ended after nearly four hours.

The election was carried out by the county party's executive committee, consisting of precinct officers and elected officials residing in Lucas' Senate District 20. Eighty-eight voters started the evening, at White Rock Baptist Church; five left before the final vote.

Brenda Pollard, the county party's first vice chairwoman, received one vote in the final balloting. She received a single vote in the final round, as a starting field of six candidates was whittled down to three.

Former Durham City Council member Brenda Buie Burnett was eliminated after receiving just one vote in the second round. Mayor Pro Tem Cora Cole-McFadden and retired educator La Harve Mangum Johnson withdrew after the third counting.

McKissick, a Durham City Council member from 1993 until 2001, led each balloting. Last week, he was endorsed by the influential Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, and he was nominated Monday night by Jeanne Lucas' sister Bertha Breese.

As winner, McKissick will be recommended to Gov. Mike Easley for appointment to Lucas' seat. The governor's appointment is essentially a formality.