Abraham Lincoln was elected 16th President of the United States and the first Republican to hold the office on November 6, 1860. By his inauguration in March, seven states had seceded.
On November 6, 1861, one year after Lincoln’s election, Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens of Georgia were elected President and Vice President of the Confederate States of America.
President Teddy Roosevelt left for a 17-day trip to Panama on November 6, 1906 to inspect work on the Panama Canal; he was the first President to take an official tour outside the continental United States.
A dam on the campus of Toccoa Falls Bible College burst on November 6, 1977 under pressure from heavy rains, killing 39 students and faculty.
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Newt Gingrich (R-GA) resigned his office and his Congressional seat on November 6, 1998, effective in January 1999, despite having been reelected three days earlier.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
The Georgia State Capitol was evacuated this morning, according to Atlanta News First via WRDW.
The Georgia Capitol building was evacuated Wednesday because of a gas leak in downtown Atlanta.
Piedmont Avenue was closed near MLK Jr. Drive as emergency officials investigated and took air quality readings, the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department said.
People were ushered out of the Georgia Capitol around 10:15 a.m.
The James H. “Sloppy” Floyd Building, which houses several other government offices, may also be evacuated.
Craziest election story of the year comes from the City of Camilla, Georgia. From WALB:
According to a post from the city of Camilla, the city is not holding special election voting on Nov. 5.
Election Superintendent Rhunette Williford and Assistant Election Superintendent Cheryl Ford announced their resignations in a letter posted on the city’s Facebook page.
In the statement dated Nov. 4 at 3:40 p.m., the former officials claimed, “The mental duress, stress, and coercion experienced by recent court decisions regarding our role in elections and the ultimate requirement to violate our oath of office as election officials is not something either of us are willing to participate in.”
The post went on to say,” We hope the City of Camilla can successfully conclude the election and it is unfortunate, in our opinion, we are left in a position where we have no choice to carry out the duties of election officials in conformity with the law.”
When WALB contacted the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, a spokesperson told us, “Their letter may have added to some confusion, but the status of a municipal special election will not affect voting in the Presidential election which is administered separately by Mitchell County.”
This decision follows legal back and forth over and an ultimate rejection that votes for former Camilla City Councilman Venterra Pollard would count. A superior court judge previously ordered Pollard to be removed from his seat after it was found that he was not a Camilla resident.
On Friday, Nov. 1, the Georgia Supreme Court denied an application for a discretionary appeal that was filed by Williford and Ford.
But a judge appointed a new Election Superintendent and ordered that voting continue, according to WALB.
Residents in the city of Camilla will now have 12 hours to cast their votes for the special election. This comes after the doors opened on Tuesday at 3:50 pm. Residents will now have until 3:50 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 6 to vote in the special election.
Shortly after 3 p.m., Don Gray was called to become Camilla’s election superintendent after being appointed by a judge. Poll workers started showing up after they were called in because they were initially told they would not have to work.
Attorney Chris Cohilas told WALB that Camilla Mayor Kelvin Owens has abused his power and is trying to obstruct an election.
“He canceled the election, he fixed and created some sort of fictitious reason for the election superintendent resign trying to vote the United States of America,” Cohilas said. “In reality, he has utilized hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer resources trying to help out an individual favor in political election.”
Residents tell WALB they’re disappointed with how today shaped out, and they just want to cast their vote.
“Just embarrassing, very embarrassing,” a Camilla resident said. “You’re sitting on Facebook waiting for someone just to say ‘OK, you can go vote’ or whether you can’t vote. So people have you had to leave work to do this you know plans but they wanna make sure they vote today.”
“I came all the way, had to bring my employee here because highly employed that they vote,” said Kimble Jackson, a Camilla resident. “But they messing it up real bad. That is not the way it supposed to work; that is all that is it keep somebody else from vote and that’s all that is.”
WALB tried to speak with Owens but he did not want to talk. Gray was appointed by a judge to act as the current election supervisor. He says it’s his civic duty to ensure residents in Camilla will have the right to vote for the full 12-hour appointed time.
On Tuesday afternoon, South Georgia Superior Court Judge Heather Lanier issued an order that the city of Camilla’s special election will go on.
This order follows Monday night’s Facebook post from the city of Camilla that the city’s special election voting was canceled following the resignation of the Election Superintendent Rhunette Williford and Assistant Election Superintendent Cheryl Ford.
Mitchell County Election Supervisor Laura Hartsfield clarified all the rumors circulating about people not being able to vote, in a live interview on WALB News 10 at noon.
She told WALB’s Ashanti Isaac that, “The county election is your presidential, local races. Like your sheriffs, coroners all those… The city election is their special election for the councilmen that they are replacing for District 1 and District 2. All the precincts for Mitchell County are opened, they all opened at 7 a.m. this morning and will be opened till 7 p.m. tonight. We haven’t had any major issues… We’ve had a really good turnout. All county precincts voting are opened and you can vote for the presidential elections.”
Hartsfield reiterates that the county election has nothing to do with the city hall special election.
In the judge’s ruling, she said that the doors were open at 1 p.m. at city hall for the special election to go on, but they are currently locked.
Donald Trump’s election as 47th President of the United States will ensure the Fani Willis sideshow remains interesting for at least the near term. From the AJC:
Donald Trump’s victory means he is likely to name a U.S. attorney general who will halt the two federal prosecutions he is facing.
That means Fulton County’s election interference case could be the only criminal case left standing. And it will likely will be put on hold until at least 2029.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who won reelection to a second term Tuesday, has not directly addressed the question of what she will do with the case against Trump should he return to the White House. But many legal experts believe even if the Democrat moves forward she will ultimately be stymied by the U.S. Supreme Court.
There is no precedent for how to handle an incoming president charged with crimes — no incoming commander in chief in American history has entered the Oval Office while under indictment.
Legal experts have been divided on whether a state prosecution could continue after Trump is inaugurated on January 20. But even observers who believe there’s no law on the books precluding Willis from acting acknowledge the Supreme Court, may put a halt to it. They cite the high court’s current makeup and its July ruling that concluded that presidents are immune from prosecution for their official acts, would block the DA from moving forward while Trump is in office.
Willis faces a more immediate challenge on Dec. 5. That’s when the Georgia Court of Appeals considers a push from Trump and eight other defendants in the election interference case to remove Willis and her office from the prosecution due to the DA’s onetime romantic relationship with former deputy Nathan Wade.
The court’s decision, due by March, is expected to be appealed by the losing side to the Georgia Supreme Court, which will create more delay.
Even if Willis opts to pause her prosecution of Trump — or if a court forces her to — she can still move forward with the racketeering case against his remaining defendants. Among them are former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Still to be resolved is the scheduled Nov. 26 sentencing of Trump in the hush-money case in Manhattan, where he was convicted of 34 felony counts. Before that happens, Judge Juan Merchan has indicated he will issue a ruling on Nov. 12 on Trump’s motion to dismiss the convictions in light of the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity.
United States District Court Judge R. Stan Baker rejected a request for a temporary restraining order to prohibit local county election offices from accepting in-person delivery of mail ballots after the end of in-person early voting, according to WTOC.
The lawsuit alleges that the seven county election boards, including the Chatham County Board of Elections, illegally accepted absentee ballots this past weekend, as well as Monday and on Election Day.
Chatham County announced on Friday that they would be accepting absentee ballots over the weekend. Judge R. Stan Baker, a Trump-appointed judge, asked lawyers representing the Chatham County Board of Elections why they waited until Friday to make that announcement. They responded that they had no reason to add to the record.
The lawsuit claims that the acceptance of absentee ballots should’ve ended when the early voting period did- and that the RNC had to scramble to send volunteers to act as poll watchers. The Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party previously told WTOC that the situation “smacked of partisan advantage.” The lawsuit asked for an injunction, meaning that that any absentee ballots accepted after Friday, November 1, be segregated from other absentee ballots.
Judge Baker, however, ruled in favor of the counties on Tuesday, saying that the lawsuit didn’t withstand “the most basic level of statutory review and reading comprehension.” The judge ruled that the ballots will be counted, citing Georgia law that dictates the absentee voting period as a different entity than the advance voting period. The judge also said that an injunction would deprive legal absentee voters of the right to vote.
“We’re certainly going to continue to address this issue. Obviously, this election is winding down. If we don’t get the relief that we’re seeking, and at this point, I don’t think we will, we’ll take this matter up with the legislature in January. I can tell you that legislators are very unhappy with the way this was handled, the unfair surprise, the lack of notice,” says Josh McKoon, the Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party.
Judge Baker also warned lawyers for RNC and the Georgia Republican Party that he was concerned with the litigation techniques used in the case, saying that some of the facts in the lawsuit were incorrect. The lawsuit alleged that Athens-Clarke County accepted absentee ballot drop-offs over the weekend, when in reality, they did not. The lawsuit also said that the RNC was not given adequate notice that Cobb County would be accepting absentee ballot drop offs on November 2 and November 4, but the county released that information in August and once again in October.
“We were notified about this issue after hours on Friday. Lawyers were scrambled very quickly to get us in court because obviously here was a timeliness issue to get this in front of a judge, so if there were issues with a couple of those allegations, I imagine that’s why,” says McKoon.
Voters in Athens-Clarke County and Oconee County elected independent candidate Kalki Yalamanchili as District Attorney for the Mountain Judicial Circuit, ousting embattled incumbent Democrat Deborah Gonzalez, according to the Athens Banner Herald.
Yalamanchili, a former prosecutor in the circuit for almost five years, ran as an independent candidate.
The incumbent, Deborah Gonzalez, a Democrat who served one term as district attorney, lost in both counties, although the vote tally was close in Athens, where Yalamanchili received just under 52% of the vote.
However, he ran strong in Oconee County where he received slightly more than 76% of the vote taking in 19,846 votes to 6,092 for Gonzalez, according to results posted with the Georgia Secretary of State.
In Athens, Yalamanchili received 19,466 votes compared to 18,068 for Gonzalez.
The race was heated on certain issues as Yalamanchili often pointed to the victim’s rights violations that plagued Gonzalez’s office along with her inability to staff the office as lawyers on numerous occasions left their positions as assistant district attorneys.
Tifton Judicial Circuit Senior Judge Gary McCorvey enjoined McIntosh County from enforcing new zoning rules for Hog Hammock on Sapelo Island, according to The Brunswick News.
The injunction restrains McIntosh County from any new building permits under the new rules until after the Georgia Supreme Court rules on pending appeals in a case in which McCorvey stopped a special election that would have allowed county voters to decide whether to repeal the zoning amendment.
Gullah-Geechee Hog Hammock residents and other opponents of the rule said it was enacted to allow larger homes to be built there that would drive out ancestral residents who are descendants of freed West African slaves who settled the land after the Civil War. They argued larger homes would open the door for wealthier, mostly White people, to begin developing Hog Hammock and make it too expensive for the Gullah-Geechee descendant residents to continue living there.
Opponents of the amendment gathered more than 2,300 signatures on a petition that they presented to Probate Judge Harold Webster in July, which kicked off a process under state law for a special election to let the voters decide the fate of the new rule.
That election never happened, however, after McIntosh County challenged its validity in court, claiming that the Home Rule provisions in the state constitution that allow for petition for a referendum cannot apply to zoning decisions by a local government.
McCorvey ruled in favor of the county in late September, stopping the special election just days before it was scheduled and after early voting had already begun.
As the appeal to the referendum ruling continues and with the injunction in place, another lawsuit filed by Hog Hammock residents is still active in McIntosh Superior Court in which they claim their constitutional rights have been violated by the new zoning rules and that the county violated state open meetings laws when it passed it.
Former Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson will head to court for the beginning of jury selection, according to WTOC.
Jackson is the former Brunswick District Attorney. Johnson is charged with meddling in the police investigation of the 2020 killing of Arbery.
All parties will meet for a hearing on Dec. 11 at 9 a.m. at the Glynn County Courthouse for the Court to hear all outstanding motions and matters prior to the trial.
Jury selection will take place on Jan. 21, 2025 at 9 a.m. with the jury trial to follow.
The Brunswick Judicial Circuit serves Appling, Camden, Glynn, Jeff Davis, and Wayne Counties.
Johnson was indicted in 2021 and charged with unlawfully interfering in the prosecution of the men charged with murdering Ahmaud Arbery.
All thirteen Congressional incumbents were reelected, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Valdosta Daily Times.
The makeup of Georgia’s congressional delegation likely will remain unchanged, as voters were poised Tuesday night to reelect 13 of the 14 U.S. House lawmakers and choose Republican Brian Jack to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Drew Ferguson.
The result would leave Republicans with the same 9-5 majority the GOP won two years ago.
Jack, the newcomer and a former aide to former President Donald Trump, was leading Democrat Maura Keller in the 3rd Congressional District in west-central Georgia, according to unofficial results. Jack had amassed 67% of the vote to 33% for Keller. Two congressional incumbents were headed toward reelection after flipping districts thanks to the new congressional map the Republican-controlled General Assembly drew last year.
Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, switched from the 7th District to the 6th District after the legislature reformed the 7th into a heavily Republican district and redrew the 6th to favor Democrats. The new 6th District includes central and southern Fulton County, south Cobb, eastern Douglas, and northern Fayette counties.
Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Suwanee, switched from the 6th to the 7th, which now includes GOP-friendly northern Fulton County, all of Forsyth, Dawson, and Lumpkin counties, eastern Cherokee County and western Hall County.
On Tuesday, McBath racked up 75% of the vote in defeating Republican Jeff Criswell, while McCormick won 65% of the vote in besting Democrat Bob Christian.
The other reelected incumbents included Reps. Buddy Carter, R-Savannah; Sanford Bishop, D-Albany; Hank Johnson, D-Stone Mountain; Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta; Austin Scott, R-Tifton; Andrew Clyde, R-Athens; Mike Collins, R-Jackson; Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville; Rick Allen, R-Augusta; David Scott, D-Atlanta; and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome. Bishop, the longest serving member of Georgia’s congressional delegation, was the only incumbent in that group with less than 60% of the vote. With 26 of 30 counties reporting in Southwest Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District as of 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, Bishop was leading with 53% of the vote to 47% for Republican challenger Wayne Johnson.
On U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s reelection from the Athens Banner Herald:
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been re-elected for a third term. She marked the occasion with a video posted online Election Night thanking her supporters from Mar-a-Lago.
“As we move on through the evening, we are looking for victory,” Greene said. “I am honored for your support and I hope we bring Georgia home for President Trump and we can move forward to make America great again.”
Greene won 130,422 votes representing 64.35% while her Democratic competitor Shawn Harris won 72,267 votes.
Incumbent Austin Scott has retained his seat as the U.S. Representative for District 8. Locally, he received 12,537 votes to Darrius Butler’s 4,173, and Angie O’Steen, Republican candidate for the District 169 state representative position, received 3,085 to 578 for Democrat candidate Theresa Rewis.
Carden Summers and Jaclyn Dixon Ford, the only candidates for District 13 state senator and District 170 state representative, respectively, secured their positions with no opposition.
At the local level, all running incumbents have retained their positions whether or not they had an opposing candidate.
Of the seats that saw races, incumbent Melissa Hughes secured 948 votes over Priscilla Prince’s 653, maintaining her position as District 2 commissioner for the County Board of Commissioners, and in one of the closest races of the election, Marilyn Burks kept her seat on the Tift County Board of Education with 830 votes to challenger Ambrose King’s 756.
County residents also voted on two amendments to the state constitution, which would provide for a statewide homestead property tax exemption and create the Georgia Tax Court for handling tax dispute and appeal cases, respectively, as well as a referendum increasing the exemption from property tax for personal property from $7,500 to $20,000. Voters elected to approve all three propositions, 9,875 of 17,077 voting in favor of the first amendment, 8,049 in favor of the second, and 9,340 in favor of the referendum.
Republicans continue to hold majorities in both state legislative chambers, according to the Capitol Beat News Service via the Gwinnett Daily Post.
Georgia Democrats were unable to put a dent in the General Assembly’s Republican majorities in Tuesday’s legislative elections.
After the dust settled from Election Night, Republicans remained in control of the Georgia Senate with the same 33-23 majority the GOP enjoyed going into this week. The only seat Republicans lost in the state House of Representatives went to a candidate running as an independent, leaving Democrats with the same 78 seats to 101 for the GOP.
“Republican House members have focused on the issues that matter to Georgia voters: cutting taxes for families facing rising costs, keeping communities safe, and investing in our children’s education,” House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said Wednesday. “We are honored by this clear vote of confidence from Georgians.”
In the Senate, most incumbents were reelected easily, with many unopposed.
The closest race came in District 48, where Republican Shawn Still defeated Democratic challenger Ashwin Ramaswami in a district that includes Johns Creek, the Sugar Hill area of Gwinnett County, and portions of southern Forsyth County. Still won with 53.6% of the vote despite having been among the Republican “fake” electors indicted in the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump.
Several newcomers won election to the Senate. Republican Drew Echols of Gainesville was unopposed in District 49. He will succeed his wife Shelly Echols, who didn’t seek reelection to a second term.
Three Democratic newcomers were elected to succeed Democrats who retired. Kenya Wicks will take over in District 34 for Sen. Valencia Seay of Riverdale, and Rashaun Kemp will assume the seat being vacated by Sen. Horacena Tate of Atlanta.
The Senate is losing Minority Leader Gloria Butler of Stone Mountain to retirement. Butler will be succeeded in the District 55 seat by former state Rep. Randal Mangham.
On the House side, Republican Rep. Noel Williams Jr. of Cordele became an independent and was reelected without opposition.
As was the case in the Senate, most House incumbents won reelection unopposed or prevailed by wide margins.
But several House races in districts with large minority populations were close. In House District 99, which includes the Duluth and Suwannee areas of Gwinnett County, incumbent Republican Matt Reeves was running ahead of Democratic challenger Michelle Kang 51% to 49%.
Still closer were the contests in House Districts 105, 128, and 145. In District 105, incumbent Democratic Rep. Farooq Mughal of Dacula was trailing Republican challenger Sandy Donatucci by a razor-thin 50.14% to 49.86%, according to unofficial results.
District 128 incumbent Democratic Rep. Mack Jackson of Sandersville held an extremely narrow lead over GOP challenger Tracy Wheeler, 50.08% to 49.92%.
And in House District 145, an open seat including portions of Macon-Bibb and Monroe counties created when the General Assembly redrew the House map last year, Democrat Tangie Herring held a narrow lead over Republican Noah Harbuck, 50.47% to 49.53%.
In a part of Atlanta’s northern suburbs that has been trending Democratic in recent years, Republican Rep. Deborah Silcox of Sandy Springs held onto her House District 53 seat, defeating Democratic challenger Susie Greenberg 52% to 48%.
Like the state Senate, the Georgia House also is losing its minority leader. Democratic newcomer Anissa Jones easily won the District 143 seat located mostly in Macon-Bibb to succeed departing Minority Leader James Beverly of Macon.
Gwinnett County voters rejected a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for Transit, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
Any hope that Gwinnett County leaders had that transit’s time had finally arrived this year crashed Tuesday night when voters rejected a proposal to expand transit for the third time in five-and-a-half years.
With 345,323 votes counted as of 11:23 p.m., the county’s 30-year, 1% transit special purpose local option sales tax referendum was losing 53.7% to 46.3%. It was losing by a margin of 25,335 votes, with the election day results from 95 of the county’s 156 precincts not showing up in the results.
The defeat was a major setback for Gwinnett four years after the last transit sales tax referendum was defeated by less than 1,000 votes.
This marks the fifth time that Gwinnett voters have rejected the idea of paying a sales tax to pay for transit in the county.
Voters rejected referendums on joining MARTA in the 1970s, 1990s and in 2019. They also rejected a proposal to expand the county’s existing transit system through a T-SPLOST in 2020.
This latest proposal would have raised billions of dollars to pay for a major expansion of Ride Gwinnett, which is the county’s transit system.
One issue that hurt the referendum is that several Gwinnett voters who went to the poll skipped the transit tax question all together. At one point near midnight on Tuesday, the results showed there were at least 11,795 Gwinnett voters who cast a vote in the presidential race but not on the referendum, with several precincts left to be counted.
Some voters told the Daily Post on Tuesday that they skipped voting in the referendum because they didn’t understand what they were being asked to approve and did not feel the county had done enough to explain it to voters.
Defeat of the referendum does not necessarily mean these plans won’t come into fruition or that tax dollars won’t be used to pay for an expansion. It just means they won’t be paid with sales tax dollars.
Ride Gwinnett is currently funded through the county’s general fund budget — which is supported by property tax dollars.
Passage of the referendum would have switched it transit to a sales tax funding model, which would have in turn freed up the property tax dollars currently used for transit to be used for other services or allowing for a very slight reduction in the county’s millage rate.
Cobb County’s transit tax referendum also failed, according to the AJC.
In Gwinnett, the proposal there appeared to fail by just under 29,000 votes. Cobb’s proposal was on track to fare even worse, by just under 100,000 votes.
The transit plans in the two counties were similar. Neither included rail or expanded MARTA, which has been the subject of criticism in past efforts. Instead, the plans focused on improving local bus service and adding rapid bus routes. They also proposed countywide microtransit, a mode of transportation that has gained popularity for offering on-demand door-to-door service for a fraction of the cost of Uber or Lyft.
In Cobb, officials said they tailored their plans based on lessons learned from Gwinnett County’s defeats.
The results left Gwinnett County Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson questioning how to move forward as the suburbs continue growing and traffic worsens.
“I deeply respect the choice of our residents, but the fact remains that we still must create solutions to ease congestion,” she said early Wednesday.
Hendrickson, who won re-election Tuesday, said the county would continue to use property tax revenue to fund its transit system while attempting to leverage federal and state grants. Gwinnett will move forward with executing its transit expansion plan, she said, but it might have to be reprioritized — and it could take a lot longer.
When MARTA was first proposed, Cobb was the only metro county to reject it. Gwinnett voters initially OK’d its creation but then declined to fund it.
The closest Gwinnett came to approving transit expansion came in 2020, with a scaled-back plan that limited MARTA’s involvement. That effort had bipartisan support but still failed. President Joe Biden received a higher share of votes than the transit referendum.
Hall County voters apparently rejected a proposed Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for Transportation (T-SPLOST), according to AccessWDUN.
The Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST) is looking like it will be voted down, with “no” getting 55-percent of the vote as of now.
The Hall County homestead exemption — which looks to lock in property assessed value rates at a steady rise of 3-percent — is projected to be approved with 59-percent of the vote going “yes” as of right now.
The Hall County Schools homestead, Gainesville homestead, and Gainesville City Schools homestead exemptions are projected to be approved as well with 60, 60, and 62-percent of the votes going “yes.” as of 9:17 p.m.
Columbia County voters overwhelmingly adopted a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (E-SPLOST), according to WRDW.
According to the unofficial election results, more than 67% of voters approved the E-SPLOST.
According to officials, the Columbia County penny sales tax will go towards schools in the county in order to fund many projects in the school district’s 10-year building program, which include school improvements, new classrooms, technology, and security upgrades.
The sales tax has been in place in Columbia County for more than 25 years, and it will be extended until 2036.
Passage will continue the tax, not raise taxes.
Approval will extend the tax until 2032.
Note the discrepancy between the two reports as to when the E-SPLOST will expire. That’s probably at least partly due to the fact that the County BOE website on E-SPLOSTs does not say when the new current levy expires.
Nearly two-thirds of Lowndes County voters cast ballots in the November 5, 2024 General Election, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.
Roughly two-thirds of registered voters in Lowndes County cast ballots in Tuesday’s general election. Of the county’s 72,610 registered voters, some 47,946 participated — 66.03%.
The presidential race saw Republican Donald J. Trump receiving 28,014 votes, leading over Democrat Kamala D. Harris with 19,395 votes. Third-party and independent candidates, including Chase Oliver (139 votes), Jill Stein (87 votes), Claudia De la Cruz (45 votes), and Cornel West (78 votes), collectively gathered modest support. Additionally, there were 111 unresolved write-in votes for various candidates.
In the U.S. House of Representatives race for District 8, incumbent Republican Austin Scott of Tifton received 28,865 votes to Democrat Darrius Butler’s 17,598 votes in Lowndes County. The district includes 29 counties, but the Georgia Secretary of State’s website showed Scott with 225, 321 votes to Butler’s 102,014 throughout the district.
In the race for County Commission Chair, incumbent Bill Slaughter, a Republican, secured 27,832 votes, surpassing Democrat Kelley Saxon, who received 18,453 votes. There were 100 unresolved write-ins in this race out of a total of 47,945 votes cast. For County Commission – District 1, incumbent Joyce E. Evans, a Democrat, ran unopposed, receiving 10,283 votes. The race saw 352 unresolved write-ins, with a total of 12,450 votes cast, marking a 55.80% turnout in the district.
In the County Commission – District 5 race, Michael Smith, a Republican, won with 21,087 votes, defeating Democrat Ron J. Bythwood, who received 7,671 votes. There were 36 unresolved write-ins, with a total of 29,656 votes cast, marking a 74.03% turnout in this district.
For Sheriff, incumbent Ashley Paulk, a Democrat, won unopposed with 41,615 votes, with 1,088 unresolved write-ins.
More than 58 percent of Dougherty County voters cast ballots, according to the Albany Herald.
In what Elections Supervisor Ginger Nickerson called the largest turnout since she’s been in office and what many are saying may be a record, 58.32% of Dougherty County’s 58,543 registered voters — more than 34,000 voters — turned out Tuesday, most of them spurred by the presidential election that was expected to continue into the early hours of Wednesday.
Incumbent Republican District 1 Dougherty County Commissioner Ed Newsome held off the challenge of Democrat Larry Harris to retain his seat. Newsome outpolled Harris 4,400 votes to 3,890.
In an even closer race for the District 1 Dougherty School Board seat, Democrat Carolyn Hand beat Republican David Maschke 4,275 votes to 3,983 to claim the seat that is being vacated by Robert Youngblood. Maschke was seeking a return to the board after a 12-year absence.
In the race for the U.S. House District 2 seat that has been held by Sanford Bishop for the past 32 years, Bishop easily outpolled Republican challenger Wayne Johnson, 24,622-9,044 in Dougherty County, helping the incumbent claim a 175,475-136,289 victory. Bishop’s total was 56.28% of the total vote.
In the presidential race, Democrat Kamala Harris outpolled Republican Donald Trump 23,795-9,893 in Dougherty County, but as of midnight, Trump held a slight lead over Harris in the state.
More than two-thirds of Dougherty County voters elected to approve Sunday sales of packaged alcohol, according to WALB.
The Lowndes County Board of Elections meets Friday to review the election results, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.
The Lowndes County Board of Elections will meet at 3 p.m. Friday to review the results of the general election that was held Tuesday. The meeting will be at the Elections office on 2808 N. Oak St. in Valdosta.
All three statewide ballot questions passed in the November 5, 2024 General Election, according to the Capitol Beat News Service.
Georgia voters were poised to overwhelmingly approve two tax-relief measures on the statewide ballot Tuesday night, while a third tax-related proposal held a smaller lead.
With 122 of the state’s 159 counties reporting, a constitutional amendment offering property tax relief had racked up 63% of the total, according to unofficial results.
A second proposal on the statewide ballot increasing the exemption on Georgia’s personal property tax also was headed toward passage with 66% of the vote.
The property tax relief measure – Constitutional Amendment One – would prohibit local governments from raising residential property assessments in a given year by more than the annual rate of inflation, even if a home’s market value has gone up more.
Cities, counties and school districts would be allowed to opt out of the provision if they choose. However, any local government that wishes to go that route would have to advertise its intent to do so and hold at least three public hearings.
Referendum A would increase the exemption on personal property taxes from $7,500 to $20,000. While the exemption would benefit all Georgians, supporters pitched it as aimed mainly at small business owners.
Constitutional Amendment Two was ahead Tuesday night but by a narrower margin than the two tax-relief measures. The amendment calling for the creation of a state tax court was supported by 51% of the voters to 49% opposed.
Supporters argued the new court would be staffed with judges who have expertise to decide cases related to the assessment and collection of state or local taxes. The same argument carried the day back in 2018 when voters approved the creation of a Statewide Business Court.
Floyd County incumbents fared well in the General Election, according to the Rome News Tribune.
State House District 13 Republican incumbent Katie Dempsey holds a significant lead of 15,094 over Democrat challenger Kevin Aronhalt at 6,519.
State House District 12 Republican incumbent Eddie Lumsden leads his Democrat challenger Logan Johnson handily at 20,134 to 4,470 across the district.
State Sen. Colton Moore took an early, and significant, lead against Democrat challenger Bart Alexander Bryant. By 8:46 p.m. Moore had already called the race and announced victory.
Democrat Gabriel Sanchez was elected in State House District 42 in Cobb County and is the first openly Democratic Socialist elected to the legislature, according to USA Today via the Savannah Morning News.
Gabriel Sanchez is projected to win his first term in the Georgia House of Representatives, leading over Republican candidate Diane Jackson with 63% of the vote as of 9 a.m. on Nov. 6. If elected, he will become the first Gen Z and first Democratic Socialist lawmaker in Georgia history, as well as one of only a few Latino legislators in the state.
Sanchez, a 27-year-old waiter who was born and raised in Marietta, will represent House District 42, a Cobb County district that has transformed from a Republican stronghold to a Democratic powerhouse over the past few decades. As of 9 a.m. on Nov. 6, he had received 16,658 of 26,319 votes.
During the May state primary election, Sanchez also defeated incumbent Democrat Rep. Teri Anulewicz, who has served in the House since 2017. During Georgia’s 2023 redistricting, Anulewicz was drawn into the same district as another sitting legislator, Democrat Doug Stoner, who later announced he would not be seeking reelection.
Sanchez credited his success to a campaign that was informed by his experiences as an organizer, where he spent years advocating for expanded LGBTQ and voting rights, and canvassing for other local candidates. In his own bid for statehouse, he sought to engage with people on the ground in his community, listening to their concerns about issues like workers’ rights and the rising cost of housing.
During his first term, Sanchez says he hopes to improve housing affordability, and will push to increase wages and protections for workers. He is also hoping to implement Medicare for all and a $20 minimum wage.
Though he is making history as a Democratic Socialist lawmaker, Sanchez said he is more focused on representing the needs of his constituents at the state capitol.
“What matters more than anything else, beyond the Gen Z or the socialist label, is what are we going to do for our people in the community?” Sanchez said. “People are tired of the status quo of a state that is against workers, that is only for corporations, and they want representation that’s really going to fight for them. And I think that our message is really resonating.”
Democrat Tangie Herring bested Republican Noah Harbuck in a contentious race for House District 145, according to 13WMAZ.
There’ll be a new face under the Gold Dome representing Macon-Bibb and Monroe County: Tangie Herring beat Noah Harbuck to win a seat as the representative for Georgia House District 145.
It comes as the redistricting process created essentially a new district, opening a floodgate for new faces to vie for the new seat.
Results:
Noah Harbuck (R): 49.53% – 13,364 votes
Tangie Herring (D): 50.47% – 13,615 votesHerring’s victory comes as redistricting upended the race, drawing out incumbent Republican peach farmer Robert Dickey, who lives in Crawford County.
However, Dickey ran unopposed in Georgia House District 134.
Republican State Senator Shawn Still (Norcross) won reelection despite being entangled in Fani Willis’s Trump indictments, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Still, who won with over 53% of the vote, will now serve his second term in the Senate representing Georgia’s 48th District, which covers parts of Johns Creek, Sugar Hill and south Forsyth County.
In 2023, Still was one of 19 people indicted in Georgia as part of an “alternate” elector scheme to illegally overturn the election results in favor of former President Donald Trump. He was charged with racketeering, impersonating a public officer, criminal attempt to commit filing false documents, two counts of first-degree forgery, and two counts of false statements and writings. Ramaswami, who worked in election cybersecurity for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, seized upon Still’s indictment during his state Senate bid, characterizing the race as a choice between an elections expert and a fake elector.
The race between Still and Ramaswami was also one of the most expensive legislative races in the state, with Still raising $450,000 and Ramaswami raising more than double that amount according to recent campaign filings.
But ultimately, Still’s status as an incumbent proved to be a more powerful factor in the race, and he retained control of the Senate seat by a 7,000-vote margin.
Democratic State Senator Sheikh Rahmann (D5 – Gwinnett) won reelection, according to AccessWDUN.
The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office shows Rahman has received 70% of the vote, while Republican Challenger Lisa Babbage received 29% of the vote.
State Rep. Jesse Petrea (R-Savannah) was reelected handily with roughly 70% of the vote, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Republican State Rep. Derrick McCollum (D30 – Hall and Gwinnett) won reelection by a 3:1 margin, according to AccessWDUN.
Democratic State Rep. Carl Gilliard (D162 – Chatham County) was reelected, according to the Savannah Morning News.
The incumbent Gilliard led Padgett 66.1% to 33.9% as of 5:00 a.m. ET on Nov. 6, with nearly 90% of the vote counted.
Known as the “James Brown” of the Georgia General Assembly, Gilliard is a veteran lawmaker who currently serves as Chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus. He will enter his sixth term in the House if he is re-elected.
In his most recent term, Gilliard focused on the cost of living in Georgia. Chatham County’s Savannah faces steep rental costs, with Savannah ranking the second most expensive city for renters in the state.
He told ABC affiliate WJCL 22 in September, “The rent is too high. We have a housing crisis across Georgia.”
Gilliard drafted the Tenant Protection Act during his latest term. The Act was intended to strengthen renters’ rights, including a measure that would have required landlords to provide at least 60 days’ notice to end certain leases.
Republican State Reps. Steven Sainz (District 180 – St. Marys )and Buddy DeLoach, (District 167-Townsend) both were reelected, according to The Brunswick News.
State Rep. Steven Sainz, R-St. Marys, got 19,626 votes, or 69.3%, defeating Democratic challenger Defonsio Daniels, who received 8,673 votes, or 30.7% in the District 180 race.
The district encompasses all of Camden County and a portion of South Glynn County, including Jekyll Island and areas near the Interstate 95 interchange at Exit 29.
State Rep. Buddy DeLoach, R-Townsend, got 13,755 votes, or 71.7%, defeating challenger Rebekah Moore, who received 5,448 votes, or 28.3%, in the Georgia House District 167 race.
Bryan County Commission Chair Carter Infinger (R) won reelection over a write-in candidate, according to the Savannah Morning News.
According to the Bryan County Board of Elections office, Infinger secured 17,956 votes to Meredith Gibson’s 1,989.
Democratic Chatham County Board of Commissioners Chair Chester Ellis appears to have won reelection, according to the Savannah Morning News.
Current Chatham County Board of Commissioners Chairman Chester [Ellis] is projected to win reelection, holding 58% of the vote with more than 97,000 ballots counted as of midnight on Wednesday.
A win gives Ellis a second term as chairman and his third consecutive term on the Board of Commissioners. A Republican has not won the seat since before 2004.
Ellis was outpacing Republican candidate Joel Boblasky, who had about 42% of the vote as of publication time. Boblasky is a commercial real estate broker with 16 years’ experience at Pier Commercial Real Estate in Savannah.
Democratic County Commissioner Aaron “Adot” Whitely was reelected to his seat representing District 6, according to the Savannah Morning News.
With nearly 50% of the ballots counted, Whitely had secured nearly 62% of the vote over Republican challenger Leonard Massey.
Democrat Shalena Cook Jones was reelected District Attorney for Chatham County, according to the Savannah Morning News.
The unofficial results are in and Democratic incumbent Shalena Cook Jones was reelected to the Chatham County District Attorney seat with 53.39% of the vote, defeating her Republican challenger, part-time Chatham County attorney André Pretorius. More than 137,600 ballots were cast, representing 66% of the county’s total eligible voting population.
The final tally was not a landslide for the embattled district attorney, who often has been criticized throughout first term for an office in disarray as multiple experienced assistant district attorneys resigned and for a lack of convictions on violent crimes.
Chatham County Commission District 7, where Republican incumbent Dean Kicklighter was challenged by Democrat Orlando Scott was too close to call, according to the Savannah Morning News.
The Chatham County Board of Commissioners District 7 race was in a heat with votes continuing to trickle in early Wednesday morning. Incumbent Commissioner Dean Kicklighter led challenger Orlando Scott by about two percent of the vote as of publication time.
The race is a rematch from 2020’s contest where Kicklighter won the seat by 8%. Kicklighter has held the seat since 2000.
Chatham County Democratic Coroner David Campbell won reelection, according to the Savannah Morning News.
While the official results continued to be tallied around midnight, Campbell had garnered 60% of the nearly 50% of the ballots. This story will be updated when the unofficial results are in.
Republican Terry Norman was elected Columbia County Coroner with more than 65% of ballots cast, according to WRDW.
Democrat Richard Coleman was elected Chatham County Sheriff, according to the Savannah Morning News.
There is a new sheriff in town. As of 3 a.m., when the unofficial results of Tuesday’s General Election were tallied, Democratic challenger Richard Coleman secured more than 72,100 votes to be elected Chatham County Sheriff―a seat held since 2016 by incumbent Republican John Wilcher.
More than 66% of the county’s 207,835 qualified voters cast ballots between the state’s early voting period and Election Day, and more than 54% of those voters supported Coleman, a career law enforcement man who ran (quietly) on a platform of crime prevention efforts. He emphasized his experience overseeing internal affairs, argued for theneed for increased transparency, improved jail conditions, and tending to the mental health of inmates. Coleman said he would allow in-person visitation, implement diversionary programs, and station a canine dog at the entrance and exit of the Chatham County detention center to prevent drug smuggling into the jail.
Wilcher served as the county’s top law enforcement officer since he won a special election in 2016 upon the death of Al St. Lawrence. On June 16, Wilcher suffered cardiac arrest that left him in critical condition and he spent months in the hospital. He returned to office in early September. In an interview in early November, Wilcher assured that he was fit to run for reelection. His platform centered on his qualifications, his familiarity with the job and transparency.
By 3:05 a.m., Coleman’s lead had increased by more than 10,800 votes.
Republican challenger Darren Pierce won the election for Whitfield County Sheriff, ousting incumbent Democrat Scott Chitwood, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.
With 23 of 23 precincts reporting, in the race for sheriff, Republican Darren Pierce defeated Democratic incumbent Scott Chitwood with 21,154 votes to 17,897 votes.
In the coroner’s race, Republican incumbent Clyde McDaniel Jr. defeated Democrat Susie Brown with 27,970 votes to 10,157 votes.
In unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office, Republican incumbent Jason Ridley of Chatsworth received 22,593 votes and Democrat Cathy Kott received 3,894 votes.
Republican Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch was reelected, according to AccessWDUN.
With over 95-percent of the vote counted in Hall County, Couch leads 75-percent to Democrat Jerry Ramos’ 25-percent.
Couch was elected as Sheriff in 2012 and has been a part of the Hall County Sheriff’s Office since 1981.
Laurens County Sheriff Larry Dean (R) was elected to a third term over Democratic challenger Tyler Jackson, according to 13WMAZ.
Republican Matt Moulton was elected Houston County Sheriff to succeed the late Sheriff Cullen Talton, according to 13WMAZ.
After months of campaigning, Matt Moulton has been elected the new sheriff with just under 60% of the vote, eeking out a victory over Arthur Harris.
It comes after Houston County’s long-time sheriff Cullen Talton died near the end of October. In September 2023, Talton said it was time to hang up the badge and not seek reelection after 13 terms as sheriff.
Talton’s decision to retire created a political frenzy on the republican front. Four Republican candidates entered the fray: Moulton, William Kendall, Slate Simons and Jimmy Dunn.
Harris was the only Democrat running for the position.
In the primary, Moulton secured 57% of the vote, beating second-place finisher Kendall with 25% of the vote. He also avoided a run-off election.
Democrat Robert ‘Buck’ Shannon was elected Peach County Sheriff, succeeding sheriff Terry Deese who did not run, according to 13WMAZ.
Deese elected not to run for re-election, and Shannon won a race against Republican candidate Ty Matthews. Shannon won with nearly 60% of the vote.
Muscogee County Sheriff Greg Countryman (D) won election to a second term in a rematch against Republican challenger Mark LaJoye, according to WTVM.
Republican Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Don Kelly was elected to a full term after being appointed earlier this year following the death of DA Stacey Jackson, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.
Don Kelly has won the race for district attorney of the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit, beating Anthony Johnson by a margin of 3,978 votes.
Kelly said he plans to make the system more efficient in his first elected term as DA, which he said his office already has been working on. The circuit’s judges will start a schedule in January that he said will be a step toward this goal.
“They (the judges) agreed to a scheduling system where we can put four attorneys going to every judge for every trial docket as opposed to two attorneys,” he said.
Kelly has 22 years of experience as a prosecutor with most of it in the local circuit. He has run the DA’s office since Jackson went on medical leave on Nov. 27, 2023. Kelly was appointed DA in May by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp after Jackson died.
The Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit serves Chattahoochee, Harris, Marion, Muscogee, Talbot, and Taylor Counties.
The new City of Mulberry elected their first City Council members, according to AccessWDUN.
Numbers reported by the Gwinnett County Elections Department Wednesday morning showed Tim Sullivan, Robert Michael Coker, Kyle Shields and Michael Rudnick as the winners of their respective district races. A total of 15 candidates were running for the five city council seats.
District 5 appears headed to a runoff between Doug Ingram and Michelle Sims after no candidate gained a majority of the votes there. Kevin Arocha was also running in that district.
The city remains the subject of numerous legal challenges from both public and private entities. Resident Steve Hughes has issued several lawsuits seeking to have the city’s creation struck down while Gwinnett County’s government has also recently filed suit in Fulton County seeking the same goal. Both cite concerns of the constitutionality of Mulberry’s charter, primarily over it not allowing the city to levy property taxes.
While the Gwinnett County lawsuit against the city is still outstanding and Hughes is challenging standing rulings that prevented his lawsuits from being successful, the city council elections were allowed to continue Tuesday night after rulings from multiple judges including the Georgia Supreme Court.
The city council elections were nonpartisan. Mulberry consists of the northeastern portion of Gwinnett County, stretching from the Hall County line and the town of Braselton to nearly the city of Dacula.
The city was voted into existence in the May primary elections with a transition team appointed by Governor Brian Kemp largely consisting of state representatives from the area guiding the city’s creation.
Glynn County Board of Education member John Madala (R) was reelected, according to The Brunswick News.
Madala, a Republican, took 70.4% of the vote as of Tuesday night, or 6,251 votes, unofficial returns show.
His opponent, Democrat Bob McKenzie, earned 29.6%, which amounts to 2,628 votes.
“The biggest thing I can say is it blew me away that 70% voted for me,” Madala told The News after the results were tallied. “Apparently I’m doing something right.”
Dalton City Council voted to adopt a revised alcohol ordinance, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.
Among other changes, the new rules create additional categories of licenses that allow for the sale of distilled spirits. Previously, a business had to be considered a bona fide restaurant in order to sell distilled spirits. The new ordinance also clarifies the time when various license holders must stop serving alcohol.
The new alcohol code has two new categories of businesses that can sell distilled spirits. Bars or cafes can now obtain pouring distilled spirits licenses. A bar is defined as any business that is licensed to sell alcoholic beverages and derives 75% or more of its annual gross revenue from alcohol sales for consumption on-site. A cafe is defined as any business licensed to sell alcoholic beverages that derives at least 25% of its annual gross revenue from the sale of food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Restaurants, which are businesses that derive a minimum of 50% of their annual gross revenue from the sale of prepared meals or food, are the third category of business able to obtain a pouring distilled spirits license. Restaurants are the only category able to sell alcohol for consumption on the premises on Sundays in accordance with Georgia’s “brunch bill.” Both the definitions of cafe and restaurant have several other requirements for businesses to be considered as a cafe or restaurant that can be found in the text of the ordinance.
Under the new alcohol code, bars and cafes can serve alcohol until 1 a.m. Patrons must leave the premises by 1:30 a.m. Restaurants are allowed to serve alcohol until 2 a.m. Restaurants may remain open and continue to serve food, but all alcoholic beverages must be off of tables and consumption must end by 3 a.m.
The council members voted 3-0 to approve the ordinance. Council member Tyree Goodlett was not present and Mayor Annalee Sams typically votes only when there is a tie. The new alcohol code will take effect on Jan. 1, 2025, which will give retailers the opportunity to review the new rules and either renew their licenses or apply for one of the new license categories if they wish.
A Bulloch County middle school student was removed after being found with a knife and allegedly threatening two fellow students, according to WTOC.
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