Former District 3 Commissioner Rhett Stringer is now the new Lumpkin County Chairman following the results of Tuesday’s General Primary and Special Elections.
Stringer successfully fended off a challenge from former Republican Party Chair Katherine James by a final tally of 53 percent to 47 percent in the Special Election to replace former Chairman Chris Dockery. Stringer received 3,844 votes, while James garnered 3,418.
In the other Special Election race to fill the remaining term for Stringer’s former District 3 seat, Nathan Davis narrowly edged out Randall Chambers by a vote of 37.13 percent to 36.42 percent. But since Davis did not receive a majority of the vote (50 plus one percent), that race appears headed for a General Primary Runoff on June 16.
However, in the regular District 3 race for a new term beginning next year those results were reversed, with Chambers coming out slightly on top with 40 percent of the vote to Davis’ 39 percent. That race will also head to a runoff.
SCHOOL BOARD
In the non-partisan local races for the Board of Education, Chair Bobby Self ran unopposed and garnered 6,198 votes.
Incumbent Craig Poore held on to his District 2 seat with 63.59 percent, or 4,264 votes.
In the race to replace exiting board member Lynn Sylvester for District 4, Ronna Anderson came out on top with 56 percent, or 3,741 votes.
DISTRICT RACES
In the Republican Primary race for the state House representing District 9, which includes Lumpkin County, Chris Dockery came away the victor with 53.27 percent, or 5,784 votes, enough for an outright victory. Doug Sherrill came in second with 29.31 percent, and Wayne Rowan third with 17.42 percent.
Now Dockery is set to square off against Democratic Primary winner Roger Smith, who ran unopposed, in the General Election.
The Republican Primary for state Senate to represent Lumpkin and the rest of District 51 did not have such a clear outcome, however.
Rep. Will Wade placed first with 43 percent, or 15,570 votes, but that is below the majority threshold required by law.
Wade’s runoff opponent will be Philip Milam, who came in a close second place with 41 percent of the vote, or 15,011 votes. Steve Shaw placed a distant third with 16 percent.
The winner of the runoff will face Democrat Gary St. Lawrence, who also ran unopposed in his party’s Primary.
STATEWIDE RACES
In the Republican Primary for governor of Georgia, Burt Jones came out just ahead of Rick Jackson by a margin of 38 percent to 33 percent, however that race will head to a runoff.
That outcome was reversed inside Lumpkin County, where Jackson was the favorite over Jones among local voters by a margin of 38 percent to 35 percent.
The winner of the runoff will face Democrat and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in the November General Election. Bottoms won the Democratic Primary outright with 56 percent of the vote.
In the Republican Primary for Lieutenant Governor, John F. Kennedy came in first with 27.29 percent, followed by Greg Dolezal at 23 percent and state Senator Steve Gooch at 11 percent.
Gooch had much more favorable results in his home county of Lumpkin, garnering first place with a whopping 61.08 percent of the vote.
That race will also go to a runoff between Kennedy and Dolezal.
On the Democratic side, Josh McLaurin and Nabilah Parkes are headed to a runoff of their own: McLaurin received 41 percent of the Democratic Primary vote, while Parkes got 40 percent.
In the closely-watched U.S. Senate race, Rep. Mike Collins came out ahead of Derek Dooley, 41 percent to 30 percent, also shy of a clear majority.
The victor in the runoff will face Incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff in November.