John Heard bests Alfie Meek, keeps District 4 BOC spot | Gwinnett Daily Post

LAWRENCEVILLE — There are more than a few ways for a candidate to kill time while waiting for slow election results to pour in. If you’re John Heard, you pick up a guitar and play.

Heard, the incumbent Gwinnett County commissioner waiting to learn his fate in Tuesday’s District 4 Republican primary, welcomed friends, family and fellow politicians to the Cuernavaca Mexican Restaurant. As 9 p.m. passed and nothing had been posted on the county elections website, he grabbed a performer’s well-worn guitar and strummed a few chords.

He sound found himself at the microphone belting out “Sweet Home Alabama.”

By the end of the night, he was — at least metaphorically — singing “Hallelujah.”

“The simple fact that the last leg of the campaign never got delivered from the post office, I think we’re lucky to get here,” Heard said.

As of 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Heard had accumulated nearly 56 percent of the 6,930 votes cast in the district that stretches from Lawrenceville to Rest Haven and includes parts of the Dacula, Braselton and Buford areas. Challenger Alfie Meek claimed the other 44 percent of the unofficial totals.

via John Heard bests Alfie Meek, keeps District 4 BOC spot | Gwinnett Daily Post.