Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

Newly elected Mayor David Bowers beams Tuesday night during a victory party in downtown Roanoke.

Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Sherman Holland congratulates Democrat Sherman Lea on his victory in the Roanoke City Council race Tuesday night.

Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Newly elected council member Anita Price hugs her granddaughter Micah Price Hughson as her daughter Nikki Price Palmer watches.

Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Democrat Court Rosen kisses his wife, Brooke, on the forehead Tuesday night after winning his first race for Roanoke City Council.

David Bowers resurrected his political career Tuesday while apparently ending that of incumbent Roanoke Mayor Nelson Harris.

Bowers ended a five-election losing streak by defeating Democrat Harris and two independents in a resounding victory for mayor, while Democrats Sherman Lea, Anita Price and Court Rosen swept the race for three city council seats.

Rosen claimed the victory by 0.91 percent of the vote over incumbent Brian Wishneff, according to unofficial returns. Wishneff said he would seek a recount of the 102-vote defeat.

Bowers in his victory speech appealed to a populist sentiment, vowing to involve citizens in the political process.

"The people have decided that they are back in charge at city hall," the Roanoke lawyer said from the stage at the downtown restaurant Blue 5, where about 50 supporters had gathered within sight of the Noel C. Taylor Municipal Building. "It won't be just the city administrators telling us the people what we're supposed to be doing anymore."

Still, Bowers promised to work with his fellow council members and with City Manager Darlene Burcham. Bowers' term will begin July 1, as will the new term of Lea and the first terms of Price and Rosen. Wishneff and Bev Fitzpatrick will be leaving the council.

"I don't get to decide who gets to sit on that council," Bowers said. "I look forward to working with each of those people."

He praised "this young fellow Court Rosen" and promised to "extend the hand of friendship" to Harris and to "ask for his counsel."

Bowers ran an aggressive campaign, fueled by an early $15,000 loan to himself that allowed him to blanket the city with yellow "Run DAVID Run" signs.

In a series of news conferences staged with ally Wishneff, Bowers lambasted Harris and the council for not involving the public in their decisions. He pitched an outsider theme that recalled his first mayoral campaign in 1992.

Bowers outpolled Harris in almost all precincts except in South Roanoke and in three of the five Raleigh Court precincts, including Harris' neighborhood.

It's unclear whether Bowers will be able to form alliances with city council members, a majority of whom were allied with Harris. To effectively push his agenda, he must assemble at least three additional votes.

"Somebody better be over there at city hall at 8 o'clock and open those doors because there's a roar of a wind of change," he told his cheering supporters.

Bowers pledged to oppose an amphitheater on the old Victory Stadium site on Reserve Avenue, promised to work to keep a restaurant off Mill Mountain, lambasted proposed budget cuts to the fire department and rededicated himself to keeping Forest Park Elementary and Oakland Intermediate schools open.

The Roanoke School Board voted last week to close Forest Park and turn it into an academy for overage middle and high school students and to close Oakland and move the Noel C. Taylor Learning Academy for students with behavioral and discipline problems into the building.

Harris, who is minister of Virginia Heights Baptist Church, said he will not run again for political office. During a Democratic Party gathering of about 75 people at 202 Market, a restaurant on Market Square, he said he wasn't entirely surprised by the results after making some decisions that were not popular but which he still considers right. He cited the construction of stadiums at each high school, changes in downtown, discussion of development on Mill Mountain and supporting the school board on its decision to close two schools.

"I think time will prove that indeed those decisions were right for the city, right for the school system," Harris said.

"It was clearly my intention while in office to use the mayor's office to push change, and perhaps we pushed too much too fast," Harris said. "But I would have rather created change, taken some bold steps, had some initiatives and lost the election ... than to have done nothing and just kind of placated the body politic, and won the election."

Lea, who will serve as vice mayor, said he looks forward to working with Bowers and the rest of the council.

"I'm going to work extremely hard to see we're a united and together council," Lea said. "I'm going to talk with David. ... Let's lead. Let's govern the best we can and put those disagreements aside. Of course there are going to be times we disagree, but we can work."

Price was exhilarated by her win. At the Democrats' gathering, she was greeted with loud applause and cheers, then shrieked with delight when Lea emerged from an elevator about 10 minutes later.

"I pride myself on being able to work cooperatively with anyone," Price said when asked about the makeup of the new council.

Rosen, too, promised to work closely with Bowers and other members of the council. He said that "Roanokers are ready for change" and "ready to put divisive and negative politics behind us."

Turnout was 19.5 percent -- lower than the 2006 rate of 25.8 percent. In that race only three council seats were at stake, but the issue of Victory Stadium helped drive voters to the polls.

Clive Rice, a voter in the Williamson Road district that went heavily for Bowers, said he thought Harris, a Baptist pastor, should "stick with preaching."

"The Roanoke Valley has to have economic development, but I don't like a lot of change myself," Rice said.

He also expressed worries about the council's talk of building on Mill Mountain and at the former Victory Stadium site.

"They can't take care of what they have already," Rice said.

The fourth-place council finisher and Bowers' running mate, Brian Wishneff, said he was "disappointed" in the result but noted that he hesitated about running until March.

"Obviously had I declared a month earlier and gone out and raised money it might have been different," Wishneff said, after congratulating Bowers at Blue 5.

Asked whether a last-minute ad attacking Rosen placed in two Roanoke newspapers could have backfired and energized Rosen's supporters in South Roanoke, Wishneff said: "It could have. I don't know. It's hard to say."

"South Roanoke was too much to overcome with such a low voter turnout," he said, speaking softly with a resigned look on his face.

Around him, Bowers was hugging supporters, glowing in the television lights.

mason.adams@roanoke.com 981-3252

david.harrison@roanoke.com 777-3523