By Véronique LaCapra / St. Louis Public Radio
ST. LOUIS – County Executive Charlie Dooley pulled out a narrow victory late Tuesday against republican candidate Bill Corrigan.
In his victory speech to a crowd of enthusiastic supporters, Dooley said he was surprised by the evening's initial voting returns, which were dominated by absentee ballots and West County precincts.
"When it came back I was down ten percentage points, it just blew me away," Dooley said, "I said that can't be right, can't be right. And I was right, it wasn't right!"
Dooley went on to beat his opponent by more than 15,000 votes, or just over 4 percentage points.
After a speech thanking his supporters, the newly re-elected Dooley told reporters he planned to continue to push for new economic development opportunities for St. Louis County.
"One of the things on my mind right now is the Midwest-China hub," Dooley said, "With the Chinese delegation here now, that's can be a game-changer for the St. Louis metropolitan area. So I'm excited about the possibilities of maybe two routes next year. That can change a lot of things for us."
Support from voters in North County precincts contributed to Dooley's win.