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Darryl Grennell greets friends and family Tuesday evening after being announced the democratic candidate for mayor. Grennell will face Eric Junkin in the general election June 7. (Nicole Hester / The Natchez Democrat)

Tony Fields hugs his son, Tony Fields IV, at Fields' headquarters on Martin Luther King Dr. in Natchez Tuesday. (Nicole Hester / The Natchez Democrat)

Darryl Grennell gives a speech Tuesday at The Hotel Vue after winning the Democratic primary for mayor. (Nicole Hester / The Natchez Democrat)

Tony Fields listens to the radio as election returns are announced. (Nicole Hester / The Natchez Democrat)

Darryl Grennell greets friends and family Tuesday evening after being announced the democratic candidate for mayor. Grennell will face Eric Junkin in the general election June 7. (Nicole Hester / The Natchez Democrat)

NATCHEZ — For Darryl Grennell, a decisive victory in Tuesday’s Natchez Democratic mayoral primary is just the beginning.

“Don’t think we have won the war today,” Grennell said to his supporters at a victory party Tuesday night at the Hotel Vue. “Today was just the beginning.”

Grennell unofficially defeated sitting Ward 4 Alderman Tony Fields with 70.6 percent of the vote, or 3,034 votes. Fields received 1,261 votes or 29.4 percent of the vote.

Grennell will face independent candidate Eric Junkin in the June 7 general election.

“I’ll start working immediately on winning the next election,” Grennell said. “That’s what’s next.”

Fields said he was very disappointed with the outcome of Tuesday’s primary, but glad he had the experience.

“I want to say congratulations to Darryl, and I’m putting all my support behind him, and I’ve asked my supporters to support him as well,” he said.

Fields will vacate his seat on the board of aldermen at the end of June, and says he is giving his political career a rest for now.

“I’m going to be focused on being a great educator, on my work at the church, and I’m going to have more time to spend with my family now,” he said. “I know God has a purpose and a plan for me through all of this, and I’m just humbled that I was still a serious candidate for mayor of the city I love.”

Though he is not in the mayor’s office yet, Grennell said he thinks the voters of Natchez sent a clear message Tuesday.

“The future of Natchez begins today,” he told his supporters. “The voters of Natchez slammed the door on yesterday. They opened the door to the future, a bright future, a shared future.”

If elected, Grennell said he would work to make Natchez a beacon for the rest of Mississippi.

“A 21st-century city, a city too busy to hate, a tourist-ready city, a city of courtesy and inclusion, a city of the future,” he said.

Grennell reminded his supporters he does not have a magic wand to erase all of Natchez’s problems and achieve its goals.

“It will take a heroic effort by everyone to achieve them,” he said. “I cannot do it alone.”

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