of any of the candidates and look at the votes we got versus the dollars we spent. We were out gunned in terms of money but we still got the votes we needed". In the November 2nd General Election, Blackmon lost to Welch 59.67% to 40.33%. During his concession, Blackmon said "Its a historic night for (Welch), and for the city, and I'm proud of him...he's a good guy, he's a good man, and he has a long, honorable record of public service. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does as the next mayor of our city. And I hope to sit down with him soon and share some of my ideas to see if we can work together to bring our city forward". Personal Blackmon was close friends with former NFL player Keith McCants. In 2011, while home for Christmas during his senior year of college, Blackmon read a news article about an arrest McCants had for crack cocaine possession, and reached out to help; their first face to face meeting was through a jail visitation monitor. “He was talking the same language I was talking, get my story out there,” McCants said. “He said he could help me, so I latched on to him.”. In May 2021, he paid for McCants to receive a hip replacement. References External links Living people 21st-century American businesspeople Florida State University alumni 21st-century American politicians