Despite seeing defeat snatched from the jaws of victory Tuesday night, Teresa Lewis has “no regrets” about her candidacy for Mount Airy mayor, she said in a statement Wednesday.

Lewis has not responded to repeated telephone messages seeking direct comment about developments on Election Night which first had her winning the mayoral post — only to see her opponent later declared the victor.

Deborah Cochran was elected mayor by a margin of 1,018-897, capturing 53 percent of the votes cast, due to what an elections official described as a “human error” in tabulating results.

But while being unavailable for comment since the election outcome was reversed Tuesday night, Lewis did issue a short statement by email on Wednesday.

“Teresa Lewis, owner of WorkForce Carolina, would like to thank her supporters in the recent mayoral election,” it read.

“We ran a positive and professional campaign and I have no regrets,” the statement added. “Congratulations were extended via telephone to Mayor-Elect Cochran by Lewis this (Wednesday) morning.”

In a follow-up email Wednesday night to another telephone message, Lewis said she would “have no further comment at this time.”

Lewis had won a mayoral primary on Oct. 6 against Cochran and two other opponents, logging nearly 45 percent of the votes cast.

The primary victory left Lewis going head to head with Cochran in Tuesday’s election for the right to replace Jack Loftis as mayor in December, due to Loftis opting not to seek another four-year term.

Cochran, presently the at-large member of the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners, had taken a similar route when reaching the city council during the 2007 municipal election as she did Tuesday.

As was the case this year, Cochran had lost a primary to Scott Lowry in 2007 which included three candidates in all, only to emerge victorious in the general election.

Tuesday night’s eventual outcome came after Lewis had held a victory party with elated supporters at a downtown restaurant.

But both she and Cochran were notified later in the evening that vote totals for two Mount Airy precincts had been wrongly recorded, resulting in figures being transposed that initially had Lewis winning by 169 votes.

Hugh Campbell, chairman of the Surry County Board of Elections, has said that a malfunctioning modem system kept the figures from being transmitted electronically as planned. This led to a “human error” when those numbers were called in manually, a mistake elections officials subsequently discovered when double-checking the count after Lewis initially was reported as the winner.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.