By Lauren Northington

In an election season where “stronger together” resounded among Democrats nationally, Richmond mayoral front-runners Jack Berry and Joe Morrissey and their supporters congregated on Election Night in diametrically opposing spaces.

Candidate Levar Stoney, also a favorite in the mayoral race, and his supporters gathered somewhere in the middle.

More than 100 Berry supporters — many of whom mirrored the 62-year-old Downtown booster in age and race, mingled amid the high ceilings and Art Deco Moderne architecture of the Robinson Theater in the city’s Church Hill. Locally brewed craft beers flowed from a tap, while the DJ spun Outkast’s “The Way You Move.”

“I’m impressed with the fact that he can bring people together. Jack’s personality makes people gravitate toward him,” said former Richmond City Council member Eugene Mason who represented the 9th District.

“Even this space is a victory. Top class,” Mr. Mason continued, while standing near the catered spread from Family Secrets Restaurant, known for its soul food.

Across town on North Side, about a dozen of Mr. Morrissey’s supporters quietly chatted between a vegetable platter and wings at a subdued Election Night event at his Chamberlayne Avenue campaign office. Mr. Morrissey, a 59-year-old attorney, was on target to win the race, according to pre-election polls, despite his latest sex-scandal involving lewd text messages to a former client earlier this year.

When asked by a reporter about the allegations, supporters shouted, “Keep fighting, Joe” and “We love you.”

“I know everyone has their own separate approach to campaigning, but I hope whoever is mayor keeps Richmond in mind,” said Johnathan Lomax, a call center employee.

“Joe’s the only one who is actually here for the community,” Mr. Lomax said, proudly holding a Morrissey “Fighter for the people” campaign sign.

At Wong Gonzalez, a new restaurant on Grace Street in Downtown known for its “Mexinese” Asian-Mexican fusion cuisine, the crowd supporting 35-year-old Mr. Stoney was as trendy as the food.

They cheered by flat screens as election results showed a potential runoff between Mr. Stoney and Mr. Berry.

“If a picture was worth a thousand words, and Levar Stoney has a president to his left and the governor to his right, what does that say about him?” Charles Moore asked rhetorically in between cheering with the largely millennial crowd.

“It means he’s the right person at the right time to do the job. It’s been a tale of two cities in this town. And he can make it one.”