Greg Parker agreed to take a break from retrieving his 84 signs scattered around town to sit down with The Salem News the Wednesday morning after the election.
“Never in a million years did I think that I would run for mayor,” he said.
Parker said that while ballots were still being cast the evening before, he was calmly relaxing at home. It wasn’t until his wife, Jennifer, pointed out the time—7 p.m.; when the polls closed and the counting was set to begin that he started to get nervous and excited.
Ultimately, Parker won by a landslide with 425 votes out of 593 votes cast.
Parker has served as an alderman for the City of Salem since June of 2020. A position that Parker said helped him learn a lot about how the city operates.
“I have a lot to learn about how to be mayor,” he said. That’s why he has taken a week off of work as a local trash man in order to settle into his new role as mayor.
“A lot of people have asked if I will continue picking up trash—even with my mayoral role—and I will,” said Parker.
“It’s the people that put elected officials into office. It is the citizens that count on you to do the right thing to represent them. And I don’t think that [elected officials] should ever forget that,” he said.
“I hope by the end of my mayoral term that I make a difference, because that’s the main reason that I ran for office,” he said.
Total Ballots Cast: 1,125
11.92 percent of the 9,441 registered voters in Dent County.
City of Salem Mayor: Greg Parker
West Ward Alderman: Kyle Williams
North Wood R-IV School Board: Nathaniel Woods and Lawrence Rictor Jr.
Oak Hill R-I Board: Amanda Sapaugh and James Reese
Salem R-80 Board: Sammi Parker and Phillip Mercer
Shall the County of Dent, Missouri, retain the countywide sales tax at the rate of one-fourth of one percent (1/4 of 1 %) for the purpose of maintaining and improving roads and bridges? YES
Bunker School Board: Nancy Amaral and Gary Conway, Jr.
