After a ballot recount that took nearly 12 hours on Friday, Michael Sutphin was confirmed as Blacksburg’s mayor-elect by 18 votes — the same margin from the initial ballot count.
In the recount, Sutphin received 5,574 votes (50.08%) and his opponent Pete Macedo received 5,556 votes (49.91%). The initial ballot count from Nov. 4 had Sutphin at 5,573 votes (49.35%) and Macedo at 5,555 votes (49.19%).
Standing under a star-studded sky — finally clear after a day of snow flurries — Mayor-elect Sutphin addressed reporters: “It was a very long day, kind of stressful. I’d definitely like to thank everyone at the Montgomery County of Elections. I’d like to thank Pete for a very hard-fought race. If there’s any lesson to be learned from this election it’s that every vote matters. At the end of the day, I’m the mayor, but it’s very important for all perspectives in town to be taken into consideration when we’re making decisions and moving forward together as a community.”
Macedo, his eyes tired but his smile strong, also ended the day with remarks about gratitude and togetherness: “It was amazing to spend so much time talking to community members and learning from them. This was not just me. This was so many people … I can’t get over how responsive people were. … Everybody we reached out to [to be poll workers] was very excited to do it. … They thanked me for asking them to do this. When everyone is thanking each other, you know you’re doing something right.”
Sutphin is a four-term town council member whose platform centered on strengthening Blacksburg’s infrastructure.
Macedo is the owner of Blacksburg Bagels and focused his campaign on the need for transparent and inclusive local leadership.
On Election Day in November the race was too close to call, with Macedo leading by 45 votes before more than 2,000 provisional ballots were verified. Most of those provisional ballots came from precincts heavily populated with Virginia Tech students.
After losing to Sutphin by 18 votes, Macedo requested a recount. Virginia law allows for recounts when the voting margin is 1% or less. Because the margin was not more than 0.5%, Montgomery County is responsible for the cost of the recount. Connie Viar, Montgomery County director of elections and general registrar, did not have a cost estimate as of Dec. 11, but said that the 16 recount officials will each be paid $250 for the day, plus reimbursed 70 cents per mile. Costs will also include paying for voting equipment and machine technicians. Equipment on a “normal” Election Day costs $1,475, according to Viar, but she did not know how much the equipment vendor would charge for the two-day recount.
Suits and ties, khakis and cowboy boots, and 32 candidates’ representatives
The recount proceeded at the Montgomery County Office of Elections in Christiansburg in accordance with the Montgomery County court order. Five scanning machines and three hand-count stations were used to recount the ballots. A sixth scanning machine was approved for use at approximately 3 p.m. Ballots were first scanned by recount officials. Any ballots not readable or “otherwise amenable” to counting by the scanner were set aside to be hand counted. Any ballots that were hand counted on Election Day were also hand counted at the recount. Three judges were present in addition to local election officials and Macedo’s lawyer. The judges and lawyers wore suits and ties. Almost everyone else was in sweaters and sweatshirts, jeans and khakis, winter boots, cowboy boots, hiking shoes and — in the case of Tiffany Couch, clerk of circuit court — sparkly sneakers.
Sutphin and Macedo each had 16 representatives attend the recount, for a total of 32 candidate-chosen individuals closely watching the process.
Eight of each candidate’s representatives were recount officials whom Sutphin and Macedo selected from a list of approximately 200 current Montgomery County election officers.
The other eight of each candidate’s representatives were observers whom Sutphin and Macedo selected from the community. Sutphin’s observers were mainly members of the Blacksburg Town Council plus a college friend. Macedo’s observers were campaign contributors and local “stakeholders” who live within and outside town limits.
Observers wore neon green “authorized” tags hanging from bright orange lanyards, while election officials had navy blue lanyards. Substitute observers filled in for observers who temporarily left the building for a variety of engagements including doctor appointments and job interviews.
Kim Kipling, chair of the Blacksburg Zoning Commission, served as an observer for Sutphin. He said that if Macedo had won the ballot count on Election Day, he wouldn’t have wanted Sutphin to call for a recount unless the margin had been only 4 or 5 votes: “[The recount is] elaborate machinery to do something very simple. It’s costing a lot of time and money that is not necessary.”
On the other hand, Leslie Harwood, one of Macedo’s observers, saw the recount as a necessity for “resolution. We worked so hard for so many months and thought we’d know something on Election Day, then the day after Election Day, then it was we’ll know something next week. So, resolution is what comes to mind of what the recount means to me.”
She gripped a red soda can as she described the most important thing she’d learned Friday: “I realized even more how elected officials and everyone here want this to be a fair process. Officials see this as a necessary step to the truth.” Harwood said Friday’s recount was transparent, and she is “happy” with the process.
Another of Macedo’s observers, Tracie Harrah, food entrepreneur and owner of Under the Green Umbrella, agreed with Harwood. “Today shows that the system works.” Harrah’s brother, Shayne Snavely, a political consultant and another of Macedo’s observers, also said that the process had been smooth and proved that “you don’t have to come in disliking your opponent or bashing the opponent.”
Jerry Ford, an observer for Sutphin and town council member, remarked that the process was “fascinating to watch. It’s encouraging to see the checks and balances and professionalism of the registrar.”
Throughout the day, no one spoke of rigged elections or a broken system. Looking across the room, it was hard to discern who was representing Sutphin and who was representing Macedo.
Ballet of the ballots: ‘no tension, no nastiness’
Friday’s recount was the 22nd election that election official Melissa Wright has worked. Breen, director of the Food Producer Technical Assistance Network at Virginia Tech, said, “We take it very seriously. Every ballot that comes through our hands is counted and treated equally whether it’s a student or the mayor. It doesn’t matter whether it’s someone who has lived in Blacksburg for six years or 60 years.”
Wright viewed the recount as a “piece of the puzzle in guaranteeing that Virginia has free and fair elections.” The recount was Wright’s first experience with a recount and she hopes to learn “anything we can do better to help in the future.”
Highlighting differences between the two candidates, Macedo emphasized that his observers were a “diverse” group from the community in contrast to Sutphin’s observers who were primarily current town council members.
Both Macedo and Sutphin chatted with their observers throughout the day. There was a hum of talk as officials and observers walked between long tables, the scanners, and various envelopes and stacks of ballots. As the day progressed, the snow tapered off.
Several times, an election official hushed the group, “It’s getting a little bit too loud — keep it down.”
Steven Gillespie, an observer for Sutphin, said, “Everyone is collegial, making sure the results are accurate. There’s no tension, no nastiness from the candidates.” Observers for Sutphin and Macedo snacked on Becca’s bars, gluten-free treats that Macedo had brought from his bakery. At 3 p.m., the judges approved a sixth scanner.
Earlier in the day, Sutphin, in a navy blue blazer over a navy sweater vest and navy tie, described his top emotion as the Will Ferrell meme “STRESSED.”
Macedo, in a tan and black flannel shirt with deep pockets for a Rubik’s cube, his 21-year-old cat Liza’s goldfish-shaped toy and a blue ceramic orb in remembrance of his father, said he primarily felt excited. With the faint gleam of a tear, he said, “If I’m the new mayor or not, I want Blacksburg to know two things. First, you’ve got me however this goes down. Second, you is singular and plural — it’s not just me but all of us. So what I’m going to do, whether I’m mayor or not, is make sure everyone remembers that Blacksburg needs you.”
Sutphin, after a brief joke about taking a nap as his first action after the recount, explained that his initial focus after the results come in would be on town governance procedures. Sutphin said that if elected mayor, he would resign from his town council seat on Jan. 1 and lead the process to appoint a new council member for that seat within 45 days. A special election for that council seat will occur in November 2026.
A thousand bagels (and a couple hundred sourdoughs) worth of learning
Considerably more votes were cast in the 2025 mayoral election (11,130) than any mayoral election in the last 20 years. In 2021, 8,506 ballots were cast for mayor; in 2017, 9,532 ballots were cast; and in 2013, 6,608 ballots were cast, according to the Virginia Department of Election’s historical elections database, which publishes state voting data from 2000 onward.
Asked if they were to do one thing differently in his campaign, Sutphin said he would have knocked on more doors and sent more postcards. Macedo would have changed the timing of “getting involved” on the Virginia Tech campus. He spoke strongly about the need for more ways that independent candidates can communicate with the public, since they don’t rely on political parties for backing.
Macedo and Sutphin both ran as independents and both said that being the Blacksburg mayor is a nonpartisan role.
They also both spoke of the recount as a valuable learning process. Sutphin, who did not hire a lawyer, said, “A lot more goes into elections that I didn’t know. There’s a level of complexity that I’m learning about.”
Macedo, who did hire a lawyer and has so far raised about $5,000 toward the estimated $10,000 to $15,000 cost, said, “The fact that we get a recount is a win because it’s a learning experience. Getting to this point is a success because we get to learn more and [develop] resources for residents who want to run for office in the future.”
Macedo added that his number one motivation for running for mayor was “to learn the process and make sure everyone’s voice is heard.” He continued, “I didn’t say, ‘I want to run for mayor.’ People said, ‘You should run for mayor,’ and I agreed.”
Macedo estimated that in the time it took for the recount his bakery could turn out 1,000 bagels, 200 sourdoughs and 200 pretzels.
Harwood, Macedo’s observer, hopes that people in Blacksburg know the importance of mayoral elections and aims to take an even greater role in community governance in the future. She said, “Local politics is where your voice as a community member can make a difference.”
This recount proves that local voices do make a difference. And the recount, as Sutphin said mid-afternoon, was held to “make sure that every voice is heard.”
Editor’s note 6:40 a.m.: The story has been revised to properly attribute a quote of Melissa Wright.
