Fitz Johnson

East Cobb Election Update: Johnson hanging on, Marbutt wins

by
Fitz Johnson, Cobb Commission candidate
Fitz Johnson

The Cobb Board of Elections and Registration is still counting some outstanding absentee and privisional ballots, but it looks as though Vinings resident Fitz Johnson has won the Republican Cobb Board of Commissioners District 2 runoff.

UPDATED Friday, 7:20 p.m.: Johnson is the unofficial winner after corrected provisional and most absentee ballots were counted, with an 86-vote margin.

The results will be certified Aug. 20.

Johnson led East Cobb resident Andy Smith by 83 votes after Tuesday’s in-person voting, and additional absentee ballots that have been counted show Johnson has increased his lead by 90 votes.

According to unofficial results from the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, Johnson has 4,913 votes and Smith 4,823 votes.

Smith, a former member of the Cobb Planning Commission, said in a message to his supporters Thursday morning that “while it looks like we came up short, I have loved this process and enjoyed meeting so many great people who I can now call friends. It was time well spent.

Smith led most of Tuesday evening and won more absentee ballots. Johnson, a retired Army officer and business executive who’s a trustee of the Wellstar Health System, picked up support late, especially in the northernmost East Cobb precincts.

Jason Marbutt, Cobb senior assistant DA
Jason Marbutt

Johnson would face Jerica Richardson, unopposed in the Democratic primary, in the November general election.

Cobb Elections said earlier Wednesday that around 600 absentee ballots were to be counted, and around 50 or so provisional ballots and some out-of-town absentee ballots remained outstanding.

The results will not be certified until next Thursday, Aug. 20.

Tuesday’s runoffs also decided another Cobb commission seat, in District 4 in South Cobb, where Monique Sheffield, a member of the Cobb Board of Zoning Appeals, defeated Shelia Edwards in the Democratic primary.

Sheffield has no Republican opposition in November and will succeed commissioner Lisa Cupid, who is challenging GOP incumbent Mike Boyce for Cobb Commission Chairman.

East Cobb resident Jason Marbutt has been elected to the Cobb Superior Court in a non-partisan runoff. Marbutt, who is is senior assistant Cobb district attorney, defeated attorney Greg Shenton with 55.8 percent of the vote in the race to succeed retiring judge Stephen Schuster.

Marbutt, who serves on the Cobb Elder Abuse Task Force, told supporters that “I will work hard to honor the trust placed in me by the citizens of Cobb County. Judge Schuster leaves an enduring legacy after many years of fine service. I will honor him by continuing his good work as a servant to the public.”

In another non-partisan judicial runoff, Diana Simmons edged Tricia Griffiths with 51.3 percent of the vote for a post on State Court vacating by retiring Toby Prodgers.

Connie Taylor won 62 percent of the vote in a Democratic runoff for Cobb Superior Court Clerk. She will face Republican incumbent Rebecca Keaton in November.

Related Content

 

Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

 

Cobb commission District 2 candidates post finance reports

by
Cobb Commission District 2 race
Fitz Johnson, left, edged out Andy Smith, his runoff opponent, in a 3-way GOP primary in June.

Fitz Johnson was one of three primary candidates seeking the Republican nomination in the District 2 Cobb Board of Commissioners race, and the only one who didn’t take out personal loans to finance his campaign.

Johnson, a retired Army officer and businessman from Vinings, finished first with 6,656 votes, or 36.2 percent, in the June primary.

In the Aug. 11 runoff, he’ll be facing East Cobb resident Andy Smith, a former Cobb Planning Commissioner and owner of a design and construction firm, who got 5,946 votes, or 32.2 percent.

Johnson has raised $83,700 to date in 2020, including $20,475 in the second quarter. Smith has raised $66,205 overall and $23,210 in the second quarter, with $18,960 coming in the form of two loans he made to his campaign.

That’s according to second-quarter campaign finance reports filed with the Cobb Board of Registrations and Elections.

In November, the winner of the Johnson-Smith runoff will face Democrat Jerica Richardson in the general election to determine the successor to retiring Commissioner Bob Ott.

Smith previously loaned himself $31,000 in three other loans he’s reported in earlier reports.

(You can look through those and other local candidates by clicking here.)

In the second quarter, Johnson spent $42,000 and has campaign expenses of $67,151 for the year.

Smith spent $21,491 in the second quarter and $46,664 overall, according to campaign finance reports.

Smith reported more cash-on-hand as the runoff campaign began, with $19,540, compared to $16,548 for Johnson.

Johnson has received funding from prominent members of the Cobb business and civic community.

They include $2,800 from William Cooper, director of cardiovascular surgery at WellStar Health System, where Johnson serves on the board of trustees.

Other WellStar executives and physicians contributing to Johnson’s runoff campaign include John Brennan ($1,000), Rob Schreiner ($1,000), Leo Reichert ($500) and David Jones ($500).

Another $2,800 contribution is from Todd Thrasher, a managing partner at the East Cobb-based Brooks Chadwick, a development firm.

Contributions of $1,500 each include Joseph Astrachan, professor emeritus at Kennesaw State University and former head of its Cox Family Enterprise Center at the Coles College of Business; and Fuqua Development.

Other contributors include James Rhoden, founder of East Cobb-based Futren Corp., which operates Indian Hills County Club ($1,000); former Cobb Chamber of Commerce president Gary Bottoms ($500); and former Cobb Commission Chairman Sam Olens, with two donations of $100 each.

In Johnson’s second-quarter report, he lists expenses totaling $33,374 to Arena Mail and Digital of Salt Lake City for the production and mailing of campaign fliers, $3,500 to Strategic Partners & Media LLC, for campaign consulting services, and $2,000 for Google, Facebook and other digital ads.

Smith has received smaller individual contributions in his second-quarter report. In a filing in April, he reported several $2,700 contributions from businesses and corporate executives, including Nicholas Telesca, president of Branch Properties, an Atlanta real estate investment firm.

Smith’s major expenses include $13,594 to Data Productions of Suwanee for campaign mailers. Another $5,000 was paid to The Lowry Group of Austell, a political consulting firm run by Riley Lowry, a longtime advisor to Ott, who has not endorsed a candidate.

Kevin Nicholas, a member of the Development Authority of Cobb County who finished third in the primary, received 5,770 votes, or 31.4 percent.

His last campaign finance report was filed on April 30, showing $24,750 in overall contributions and $17,134 in expenses. He loaned himself $20,000 during that period, and his contributors included former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr ($500).

Related Content

 

Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Cobb Commission District 2 Republican primary goes to runoff

by
Fitz Johnson, Cobb Commission candidate
Fitz Johnson

More than a week after the primary elections, the two candidates who’ll be moving on in the Aug. 11 Republican runoff for District 2 on the Cobb Board of Commissioners have been certified.

The Cobb Board of Registration and Elections on Friday certified that Fitz Johnson of Vinings and Andy Smith of East Cobb emerged as the top two finishers in a three-candidate race that was separated by fewer than 1,000 votes.

The board certified all of Cobb’s primary results on Friday, after a delayed process that included counting a record 107,000 absentee ballots.

According to the certified tabulations, Johnson received 6,656 votes, or 36.2 percent of the ballots cast.

Smith got 5,946 votes, or 32.2 percent. Kevin Nicholas, also of East Cobb, received 5,770 votes, or 31.4 percent. They were running to succeed retiring commissioner Bob Ott, with the GOP winner facing Jerica Richardson, the only Democratic candidate, in November.

Voting figures reported on the June 9 primary election day were very close, and remained that way as the absentee voting updates were added.

Andy Smith, Cobb commission candidate
Andy Smith

“Yes, it was very close, and maybe that’s the way it should be,” said Smith, a former member of the Cobb Planning Commission. “There were three very good candidates and I think District 2 would be well represented by any of them.”

Johnson, a first-time candidate for county office who previously ran for state school superintendent, won 24 of the 39 precincts in District 2, which includes most of East Cobb and some of the Smyrna-Vinings-Cumberland area.

He won 11 precincts in East Cobb, mostly by very slender margins (click here for a hover map with precinct totals).

“I’m not from East Cobb, and so we had to make sure we really got out in East Cobb a lot,” Johnson said.

Cobb BOC District 2 GOP primary precinct map
To view individual precinct results click here. Johnson won precincts in blue, Smith in light green and Nicholas in turquoise. There was a tie in the Dickerson 1 precinct, shaded in beige.

Nicholas, a member of the Development Authority of Cobb County and a candidate for the Cobb County Board of Education in 2014, also was running for the commission for the first time.

After East Cobb News requested comment from Nicholas, he e-mailed a statement saying that “I am proud of the grass roots campaign we ran, representing our neighbors—not special interests, and a huge thank you to the thousands of voters who supported me.”

Johnson and Smith said they will keep stressing issues they heard a lot from voters, especially public safety, during the runoff campaign.

They both said they’re eager to do more in-person campaigning, as more restrictions on public gatherings in Georgia have been lifted.

Related Content

 

Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

GOP business executive joins Cobb Commission District 2 race

by

Some more political campaign news to round up here, after yesterday’s announcement of a Democratic candidate for the Cobb Board of Education Post 5 race:Fitz Johnson, Cobb commission District 2

The battle to succeed Bob Ott on the Cobb Board of Commissioners gained a Republican candidate last week. T. Fitz Johnson, a Vinings resident, filed a declaration of intent to accept campaign contributions.

Johnson is CEO of ASID Group International, a prison healthcare company, and was a GOP candidate for Georgia Superintendent of Schools in 2014. His community service work includes serving on the WellStar Health System Board of Trustees and the board of the Cobb Hospital Authority.

A former collegiate wrestler at The Citadel, Johnson is a military veteran and was the owner of the Atlanta Beat women’s professional soccer team from 2009-11.

He’s the third Republican to announce after Ott’s decision not to seek a fourth term to represent District 2, which includes some of East Cobb and the Smyran-Vinings area. The others are East Cobb residents Shane Deyo, an Army veteran and software consultant, and Andy Smith, Ott’s appointee to the Cobb Planning Commission.

Smith hasn’t formally declared his candidacy and will have to resign from the planning board once he does.

Last week, East Cobb real estate agent Pamela Reardon told the MDJ she would be running too, as a Republican. On Monday, however, she left a message on the Cobb Central Facebook page that she has decided against that, citing stress and a previous bout with cancer.

The only Democrat to announce for the District 2 seat thus far is Jerica Richardson, who campaigned for current Cobb school board member Jaha Howard.

6th District Congress update

After several Republican candidates withdrew for the 6th Congressional District seat before the holidays, another has jumped into the fray.

Mykel BarthelemyMykel Barthelemey, who runs Barthelemy Commercial Capital in Atlanta with her husband, is the third GOP hopeful seeking to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath.

She joins former Congresswoman Karen Handel in the Republican primary and recently launched her campaign website.

Barthelemey, who hails from Louisiana, was a sub-contractor for the Small Business Administration in Atlanta and was involved in the Reform Party. She’s the author of a new book, “Trump Is Not A Racist! Here’s Why” and is the founder of Coming Out Red USA, a grassroots conservative organization.

In her mission statement, she said Trump is “the greatest President in the history of our country that ever lived” and that “I’m the Left’s worst nightmare because my nonconformity destroys their narrative.”

The 6th District includes East Cobb, North Fulton and Sandy Springs and North DeKalb.

Dem roundtable on crime, opioids

Next week two Democratic candidates will hold a roundtable event in East Cobb on criminal justice reform and opioids.

The roundtable takes place next Tuesday, Feb. 4, at 6 p.m., at Seed Kichen and Bar (1311 Johnson Ferry Road)

The hosts are Sarah Riggs Amico, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican David Perdue, and Jimmy Herndon, a candidate for Cobb County Sheriff.

 

Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!