University of Maryland chaplain Ray Ranker has won Tuesday’s College Park City Council District 3 special election.
Ranker earned 344 of the 512 votes — about 67 percent— in the race. He defeated Gannon Sprinkle, a junior government and politics major at this university, and Michael Meadow, a mechanical engineer at the Architect of the Capitol, in the race.
Ranker, a university alum who graduated in 2004, previously served as the president of the College Park Estates Civic Association in District 3.
Ranker oversees tutoring at local elementary schools and is on the Good Neighbor Day planning committee, where he works with elected officials, this university’s staff and students, and College Park residents to promote community service.
“I’m really passionate about a different kind of governance,” Ranker told The Diamondback in February. “I’ve always been interested in bringing people into the action … there’s only so much one person with their time can do, but when you have communities engaged and active and excited, there’s just so much that can be done.”
The special election comes after the resignation of former council member Stuart Adams on Jan. 8. Adams served on the council for more than three years.
As a council member, Ranker told The Diamondback in February that he will work to ensure students and residents are living in an environmentally safe and sustainable city. He plans to work to create an ecologically safe natural sound barrier by roadsides to reduce excessive noise throughout the city, he said at a District 3 candidate forum on Feb. 26.
Ranker also said at the February candidate forum that he will have a “holistic” approach towards public safety and supports installing street cameras and neighborhood watches.
Ranker will be sworn in on March 18 and will hold the seat until November’s city election.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated that Ray Ranker would be inaugurated at the March 25 city council meeting, He is set to be inaugurated on March 18. This story has been updated.
