Wednesday, May 22
Here are the results from some of yesterday’s key races. Runoff election day is Tues., June 18. All results are unofficial until certified.
DeKalb County CEO – Runoff
Lorraine Cochran-Johnson 46.3
Larry Johnson 34.4%
DeKalb County Commission District 1
Robert Patrick
Fulton County Sheriff
Pat Labat
Fulton County District Attorney
Fani Willis, who will face Republican challenger Courtney Kramer in November. Read the story here.
Fulton County Clerk
Che’ Alexander
Fulton County Commission District 4 – Runoff
Natalie Hall 41.56%
Mo Ivory 40.62%
Fulton County Commission District 6
Khadijah Abdur-Rahman
Fulton Superior Court Atlanta
Judge Scott McAfee Read more about his win here.
Georgia Supreme Court
Andrew Pinson Read more about his win here.
State Senate District 36
Nan Orrock
State Senate District 40
Sally Harrell
State Senate District 44
Elena Parent
State Senate District 55 – Runof
Randal Mangham 31.22%
Iris Knight-Hamilton 22.56%
State House District 42
Gabriel Sanchez
State House District 90
Saira Draper
Atlanta MOST
Voters overwhelmingly supported renewing the one-percent sales tax for water and sewer projects in the city of Atlanta.
Mulberry Cityhood
Voters in Gwinnett County approved the incorporation of Mulberry, which will become the county’s second-largest city. Read more.
Tuesday, May 21
11:02 p.m.
We’re wrapping up our coverage for tonight. We’ll have an update on races in tomorrow morning’s Rough Draft newsletter at 7 a.m. and later in the morning here on the website.
If the meantime, be sure to follow live results of all the local and state races at the Georgia Secretary of State website at this link.
10:55 p.m.
The three way race for DeKalb County CEO appears to be headed for a runoff. Lorraine Cochran Johnson is leading by 46% of the vote but not enough to outright win against challenger Larry Johnson’s 34%. Steve Bradshaw has 19%.
10:42 p.m. | Hall & Ivory headed to runoff; Labatt appears headed to reelection
Fulton County Commissioner Bob Ellis ran unopposed in the Republic primary to retain his District 2 seat. But the 6,646 votes he recorded with almost 96 percent of the precincts reported was short of the combined 7,434 his two Democrat opponents received. Ellis can expect to face Megan Harris in the November General Election. She had 4,256 of the votes in the Democratic primary (57.25 percent) compared to Jennifer Phillippi who had 3,178 votes (42.75 percent).
District 4 Fulton County Commission incumbent Natalie Hall, 6,627 votes (41.5 percent) looks to be headed to a runoff election against Democratic challenger Mo Ivory with 6,496 votes (40.68 percent). Chjallenger Sonya D. Ofchus had 2,844 votes (17.81 percent).
District 6 Fulton County Commission incumbent Khadijah Adbur-Rahman had 10,704 votes (55.22 percent, much more than the combined total of her challengers with 91.49 percent of precincts reporting in the Democratic primary. Ali Carter’s 5,405 votes (27.88 percent) and the 3,275 votes for Ciara L. Anderson weren’t enough to force a runoff. No Republican entered the contest.
Sara E. Gillespie led her challenger with 4,821 votes (53.57 percent) in the Fulton County Board of Education District 1 race against Lyndsey Coates, whose 4,187 votes was 46.43 percent of the total.
In the District 3 Fulton Board of Election contest, incumbent Katie Gregory easily defeated challenger Mustafa Kardeniz with more than 78 percent of the votes with 94.74 percent of the precincts reporting. Gregory’s 6,679 votes exceeded her opponent’s 1,789 votes by a large margin.
Sheriff Patrick “Pat” Labatt had three Democrat challengers for his seat but appeared headed for victory with 54.12 percent of the votes cast with 87.73 percent of precincts reporting in Fulton County. His 45,553 votes were more than half of the total cast, with Joyce Farmer collecting 19,521 votes (22.87 percent), Kirt Beasley trailing with 9,787 votes (11.63 percent) and James “JT” Brown at 11.37 percent of the votes with 9,573 cast.
10:10 p.m.
The city of Atlanta referendum to renew a 1-cent special purpose Municipal Option Sales Tax (MOST) appeared headed to an easy victory, according to unofficial election results from Fulton and DeKalb counties.
At 10:10 p.m. with 51% of precincts reporting in Fulton County, the vote to approve MOST was leading with more than 74% of the vote. In DeKalb County, the vote was 84% in favor with 64% of precincts reporting.
The sales tax, first approved by voters in 2004 and again in 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020, is used to aid in funding needed infrastructure repairs, address sewer overflows and ensure the city complies with clean water regulations.
The sales tax came after the city was sued in 1995 by federal and state environmental agencies and the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper organization. The groups said the city’s aging infrastructure resulted in constant sewer overflows that polluted the Chattahoochee River and other waterways.
The city was put under two federal consent decrees in 1998 and 1999 to address the problems, expected to cost about $4 billion.
Earlier this year, the Atlanta’s R.M. Clayton Water Reclamation Center, the city’s largest wastewater treatment center, again released unsafe levels of bacteria into the Chattahoochee River.
9:25 p.m.
In Oakhurst, Dist. 44 State Senate incumbent Elena Parent (D) looks at election results with DeKalb District Attorney Sherry Boston. At just after 9 p.m., Parent was declared the winner in her contest against Nadine Thomas with 70% of the vote. (Photo by Logan C. Ritchie)
8:55 p.m.
In East Atlanta Village, supporters and the campaign team of Dist. 90 Rep. Saira Draper (D) felt positive about the election. Draper was up by 30 points over challenger Becky Evans at 8:50 p.m. (Photo by Logan C. Ritchie)
8:20 p.m.
Dist. 6 U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath (D) has beaten two Democratic primary opponents to clinch the nomination in her second new district in two years, according to a report from 11Aive.
McBath bested challenges from Cobb County Commissioner Jerica Richardson and state Rep. Mandisha Thomas. McBath was first elected in 2018 in a district that covered Atlanta’s inner northern suburbs. After a new map was drawn in 2022 that added more Republicans to that district, McBath moved to a district that included parts of Gwinnett and Fulton counties. There, she defeated fellow Democratic incumbent Carolyn Bourdeaux.
McBath will now face Republican Jeff Criswell in November.
7:52 p.m.
Incumbent Fani Willis has already defeated challenger Christian Wise Smith for the Democratic nomination for Fulton County District Attorney. The Associated Press called the race moments ago.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, the judge presiding over the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump, also bested Robert Patillo in the nonpartisan election.
McAfee was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp appointed to fill an empty seat. He will now serve a full four-year term beginning in January.
7 p.m.
The polls have closed on this primary election day with vote counts expected soon for candidates seeking state and local offices, U.S. Congress, the Georgia Legislature, and for local referendum questions.
Local media reported short lines at metro Atlanta polling places. The only drama, so far, was the Georgia My Voter Page website crashed due to heavy traffic earlier this afternoon. The site was reportedly down for an hour.
Gabriel Sterling, Chief Operating Officer in the Office of the Georgia Secretary of State, posted the update below on X.