Minister becomes Fayetteville’s first black mayor

In addition to making phone calls and canvassing door-to-door in his bid for mayor of Fayetteville, Ed Johnson made an appearance at the monthly breakfast meeting of the local Republican party. The unusual overture, some political observers say, probably helped the 60-year-old Democrat become the first black candidate ever to be elected mayor of a city in Fayette County, a largely white, conservative Republican enclave. Johnson, a minister and retired naval commander, rode into the history books last Tuesday in a nonpartisan, at-large election.

Read more about Johnson here.