Selma Mayor James Perkins, Jr., has released a public concession statement following his loss in Tuesday’s elections. While the mayor’s race will be heading to a runoff, Perkins won’t be one of the two candidates to face off next month.

The two candidates heading to a runoff on September 23 are Johnny Moss III and Aaron Roper. Moss is the president of the Selma city school board, while Roper is a former tax collector.

Unofficial results from Tuesday show that Perkins missed the runoff by 29 votes. Moss finished with 1,606 votes, or 35%, to Roper’s 1,191 votes or 26%. Perkins had 1,162 votes or 26%. Other candidates in the race were far behind.

Perkins was Selma’s first Black mayor when he first won the office in 2000. He served until he was defeated in 2008, but won his latest term in 2

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