Former Atlanta City Councilman Lee Morris held a comfortable lead in the four-way Republican Primary race to represent District 3 on the Fulton County Commission.

According to unofficial returns posted on the Fulton County elections website on May 21, Morris took 57 percent of the vote in the primary, apparently enough to claim the nomination without a runoff. No Democrat filed in the district, which covers portions of Buckhead and Sandy Springs.

Commission Chairman John Eaves narrowly outpolled fellow Commissioner Robb Pitts in a near dead heat for the Democratic Primary for nomination to the countywide District 7 seat on the commission. Eaves led by about 350  votes among the 43,000 cast, according to the county election office webpage, a margin likely to result in a recount.

And in the newly redrawn District 2, which includes a portion of Sandy Springs, Bob Ellis outpolled Eric Broadwell two to one for the Republican nomination to the seat.

Beth Beskin led the four-candidate race for the Republican nomination to succeed former state Rep. Ed Lindsey in House District 54. Lindsey did not seek re-election so he could run for a seat in the U.S. House. The winner of the Republican primary in District 54 will face Democrat Robert W. Gibeling in the fall.

On May 21, Fulton County election officials reported Beskin had collected 49.9 percent of the votes cast. On her webpage, Beskin said she expected to be in a runoff July 22 with second-place finisher John J. McCloskey. In Georgia, races that end with no single candidate receiving more than half the total vote are decided by a runoff between the two candidates receiving the most votes.

In nonpartisan races for the Fulton County school board, incumbent Julia Bernath received 53 percent of the votes cast to withstand a challenge from Kate Wittschen.

According to the Georgia Secretary of State and Fulton County officials, here are the unofficial results of contested local races in the May 20 primaries and nonpartisan special election.

State Senate, District 38

Democratic Primary

Horacena Tate (I)                    77 %

Reginald Crossley                    23 %

State Senate, District 40

Democratic Primary

Tamara Y. Johnson                 69 %

Benedict I. Truman II              31 %

Republican Primary

Fran Millar (I)                         77 %

Richard D. “Dick” Anderson   23 %

State House of Representatives, District 54

Republican Primary

Beth Beskin                             49 %

John J. McCloskey                 30 %

Loretta A. Lepore                    15 %

S.Angelic Moore                       5 %

Democratic Primary

Robert W. Gibeling                 100 %

State House of Representatives, District 80

Republican Primary

Michael J. “Mike” Jacobs (I)    75 %

Catherine S. Bernard               25 %

Fulton County Commission, District 2

Republican Primary

Bob Ellis              66 %

Eric Broadwell     34 %

Fulton County Commission, District 3

Republican Primary

Lee Morris                               57 %

Bernand “Bernie” Tokarz     17 %

Cory Ruth                               16 %

Alexander Palacios               10 %

Fulton County Commission, District 7

Democratic Primary

John Eaves (I)                         50 %

Robb Pitts                                49 %

Republican Primary

Earl Cooper                             100 %

Fulton County Board of Education

Julia Bernath (I)           53%

Kate Wittschen             47 %

(I)               Marks incumbent

Joe Earle is Editor-at-Large. He has more than 30-years of experience with daily newspapers, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and was Managing Editor of Reporter Newspapers.