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STONEVILLE — Businessman Jerry Smith rode to a write-in victory Tuesday night by making phone calls, knocking on doors and shaking hands — all in less than two weeks.

“You can say I did it the old-fashioned way,” Smith said Wednesday.

He received 14.5 percent of the vote in the race for Stoneville Town Council, according to unofficial tallies from the Rockingham County Board of Elections. He was the second-highest vote getter and, as a result, knocked an 18-year incumbent off the council.

Ricky Craddock received nearly 18 percent of the vote in the race. Incumbent Jodi Lester won 13 percent; while incumbents Jerry Odell and Eugene DeMoss each netted about 12 percent.

James “Gen” Scales, a town council member for 18 years, lost his seat, receiving just under 11 percent of the vote.

Johnny Farmer captured about 10 percent, and Glynda Shelton, 9 percent.

There were 169 write-in votes in the council race. All but five went to Smith, according to the board of elections.

Smith’s name did not appear on the ballot. He set up a committee Oct. 26 to run as a write-in candidate, which gave him the ability to campaign like the other seven candidates, said Tina Cardwell, deputy director of the elections board.

Then Smith, 56, got busy. He obtained the names of the town’s 655 registered voters and mailed them copies of his biography as well as a pledge to work on a nonpartisan basis with the mayor, council and town administrators for the good of the community.

Smith wants to see the town implement a five-year plan to grow its finances, especially its fund balance, which has been low for years. He also would like to form a citizen advisory committee.

“Five council members and one mayor cannot work if they don’t know what the citizens’ needs and desires are,” he said.

Smith, a Stoneville native, owns an insurance company. He said he ran for a Town Council seat at the age of 22 but lost by six votes.

Smith said he didn’t seek office during the filing period because he wasn’t convinced he was ready.

Eventually, some residents asked him to run for a council seat.

Smith isn’t the only write-in candidate to have prevailed in a Stoneville race.

Kevin Baughn, who is now Stoneville’s town administrator, won a seat on the council in 2006 after a brief campaign.

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 627-4881, Ext. 126, or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com