Joash Ward was running against Poughkeepsie incumbent Mayor Rob Rolison in Tuesday's general election. Results showed Rolison's win with 2,835 votes versus Ward's 2,523 votes.

Ward, a Democrat, grew up in Poughkeepsie, graduating as Poughkeepsie High School's valedictorian at the age of 16. He then went to Syracuse and King's College in London. Ward also interned in the Obama White House.

He is still in his mid-20s, but said he hoped to be chosen by voters to make a difference.

"The crime in the city of Poughkeepsie is concentrated among and preys on our young people — this goes back to the fact that after school, our young people have no place to go and nothing to do," Ward said after casting his vote at the Beulah Baptist Church. "So we put together a comprehensive plan that takes our young people off the street and out of harm's way. That is a firm path through education, a high-quality education, that employs our young people in the economy locally."

Ward said the city's current leadership did not accurately reflect its population.

"We have a color supermajority in the city of Poughkeepsie," Ward said. "Sixty percent black and Latino, and a nearly all-white police force, with an all-white administration.

"It is a shame in 2019 [that] the people making decisions that affect us most, fundamentally, do not reflect us."

Ward had focused his campaign on what he called a tale of two cities, stressing division on economic and racial lines. Should he have been elected, Ward said his administration would have focused on making the city safer, cleaner, and more economically prosperous.