6th Congressional District Democratic runoff

East Cobb Election Update: Kemp routs Cagle, McBath edges Abel in runoffs

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East Cobb Election Update

UPDATED 11:20 P.M.

Lucy McBath, a gun-control advocate from East Cobb, has won the 6th Congressional District Democratic runoff.

With all 207 precincts reporting, she won with a 54-46 percent margin, collecting 14,270 votes. Kevin Abel, a Sandy Springs technology entrepreneur, received 12,258 votes.

McBath decisively won in her home base of East Cobb by a 59-41 percent spread, with 4,389 votes to 3,053 for Abel, as all 50 precincts have reported.

She also got 6,090 votes in Fulton to 5,313 for Abel, a 53-47 percent margin, with all 114 precincts reporting.6th CD Dem runoff precinct map

In DeKalb, Abel won 51-49 percent, with 3,892 votes to 3,791 for McBath, with all 43 precincts reporting.

She had trailed in early results. But as the evening wore on, she increased her margins in East Cobb. McBath won the precincts indicated in dark red on the map at the right.

Abel won the precincts in dark green. Click here for more details and to scroll over each precinct result.

In November McBath will face Republican U.S. Rep Karen Handel.

UPDATED 9:50 P.M.:

The 6th Congressional District Democratic runoff is neck-and-neck, but it’s hard to tell how much of the overall vote has been counted. That’s because the Georgia Secretary of State’s office still has 0% of the overall vote counted in the district.

Lucy McBath of East Cobb leads Kevin Abel of Sandy Springs 50-49, by 31 votes (6,879 to 6,848).

In her home base of East Cobb, she leads Abel 57-42 with 42 percent of the precincts reporting.

McBath leads Abel by a slender margin in DeKalb of 51-49 with 53 percent of the precincts reporting. In Fulton, Abel leads 55-45 percent, but no precincts have fully reported.

Here’s the real-time link for updates.

UPDATED 8:40 P.M.:

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has just made his concession speech as Secretary of State Brian Kemp is en route to a landslide victory in the Republican runoff for Georgia governor.

With 45 percent of the votes counted, Kemp leads 68-32 percent statewide. Even in Cobb County, which was considered a battleground, Kemp leads easily, 55-45 percent, with 45 percent of the votes counted as well.

cobb advance voting, East Cobb election update

Here is the election results link from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office that will be updated in real-time. Here are Cobb-only results.

We will be updating this post throughout the evening and on our Facebook and Twitter channels.

Cagle and Kemp had been locked in a close battle as the runoff approached.

But President Donald Trump endorsed Kemp just a few days before the runoff, right after outgoing Gov. Nathan Deal backed Cagle. Tight polls gave way to a Kemp lead over the weekend, and Kemp cited the Trump factor in his victory speech to supporters in Athens.

Another issue that came up during the runoff campaign was the release of a secret audio recording of Cagle admitting he supported a bill regarding tax credits for private schools to hurt a primary opponent.

In the November general election, Kemp will face Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams of Atlanta. The former Georgia House Minority Leader, she is attempting to become the first black female governor of any state.

UPDATED 8:30 P.M.

With 33 percent of precincts reporting, Kemp leads Cagle 66-34 percent.

The first results from Cobb show that Kemp leads Cagle 60-40 with 24 percent of the vote counted.

Also on Tuesday’s ballot is a GOP runoff between Commissioner Bob Weatherford of District 1 in North Cobb and Keli Gambrill. With nearly 75 percent of the votes counted, Gambrill was leading 59-41 percent.

 

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Georgia runoff election Tuesday to decide GOP governor, 6th Congress Democratic nominees

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Georgia runoff election
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle (L) and Secretary of State Brian Kemp have received endorsements from Gov. Nathan Deal and President Donald Trump, respectively.

Voters will pick nominees in several key statewide and Congressional races in the Georgia runoff election on Tuesday.

At the top of the ticket, Republican voters will select a gubernatorial nominee in what’s become a tumultuous runoff battle, as well as GOP nominees for lieutenant governor and secretary of state.

Democratic voters in the 6th Congressional District, which includes East Cobb, also will choose a nominee for the November general election.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Cobb Elections website has sample ballots, precinct addresses and information on how you can find your polling station.

In the GOP governor’s race, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle was enjoying a lead in most polls and received an endorsement last week from outgoing Gov. Nathan Deal. But then President Donald Trump endorsed Cagle’s opponent, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

Related story

Polls now have Kemp in the lead, although one of them indicates that nearly a quarter of likely voters remains undecided.

Trump’s endorsement of Kemp has generated national media attention.

Cobb is considered a battleground county, and Cagle and Kemp have campaigned here frequently. Two East Cobb lawmakers have come down on either side of the runoff. Cagle has the support of State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, while State. Rep. Sharon Cooper is backing Kemp.

The winner faces Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia House Minority Leader, in November.

In the lieutenant governor Republican runoff, state senator David Shafer is facing Geoff Duncan, a former member of the state house.

In the 6th Congressional District Democratic runoff, gun-control advocate Lucy McBath, an East Cobb resident, is facing technology entrepreneur Kevin Abel of Sandy Springs.

The winner will face Republican U.S. Rep. Karen Handel in November.

One of the two seats on the Cobb Board of Commissioners that’s contested this year will be decided Tuesday. Incumbent Bob Weatherford is facing Keli Gambrill in the GOP runoff for District 1 in North Cobb.

Incumbent commissioner JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in Northeast Cobb won the Republican primary and is being challenged in November by Democrat Caroline Holko.

 

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6th Congressional District Democratic runoff pits gun-control advocate against entrepreneur

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Lucy McBath, 6th Congressional District Democratic runoff
Lucy McBath

In two months, the 6th Congressional District Democratic runoff will summon East Cobb voters to go back to the polls.

If Tuesday’s primary vote is any indication, gun-control advocate Lucy McBath should have an advantage on her home turf.

McBath got 36 percent of the vote across the district, which includes North Fulton and North and Central DeKalb.

She will be going up against businessman Kevin Abel, who got 30 percent of the vote. The winner of the July 24 runoff will face current U.S. Rep. Karen Handel, a Roswell Republican, in the November general election.

Neither McBath nor Abel have run for public office before.

The total vote tallies were close following the four-candidate primary, which included former CBS46 news anchor Bobby Kaple (26 percent of the vote) and Lassiter High School graduate Steven Knight Griffin (7 percent).

Here’s a link to the full results.

Kevin Abel, 6th Congressional District Democratic runoff
Kevin Abel

In the 49 precincts that are in the East Cobb area, McBath won all but 10 of them. She received 4,220 votes in East Cobb, or 39 percent of the vote. Abel got 3,014 votes, or 28 percent.

Abel also won some of the more crucial precincts in the heart of the community, including near Eastside Elementary School and Dickerson Middle School, two Mt. Bethel polling stations, Timber Ridge and Hightower Trail Middle School.

McBath, a former airline flight attendant, got 37 percent of the vote in North Fulton, to 28 percent for Abel, who lives in Alpharetta and is the founder of Abel Solutions, a technology consulting company.

In DeKalb, the margins were virtually a toss-up, with McBath getting 33 percent and Abel 32 percent.

Candidates’ websites: Abel | McBath

6th Congressional District East Cobb primary map
Lucy Bath won the East Cobb precincts in purple, and Kevin Abel in green. (Georgia Secretary of State Office map)

Before her candidacy, McBath earned national attention for her gun-control advocacy after her son was shot and killed by a motorist at a Florida gas station. She had filed to run for Georgia House District 37, which includes some of the Northeast Cobb area, and switched after the Parkland, Fla., school shootings in February.

Abel, who emigrated from South Africa as a teenager, has run on reforming immigration and healthcare policy, as well as Social Security and climate change issues. He’s been especially critical of President Donald Trump over his decision to end DACA, which would allow the children of undocumented immigrants a route to legal U.S. citizenship.

The 6th Congressional District Democratic runoff will come just about a year after last year’s special election, in which Handel held off Democrat Jon Ossoff in a high-profile race that earned national attention and was rated the most expensive U.S. House race ever.

Republicans have held the seat since 1978, when Newt Gingrich was first elected to Congress, and East Cobb turned out strongly in favor of Handel in the runoff.

Last year’s close vote has encouraged Democrats to try again, even after Ossoff declined to run.

In East Cobb, where all state and local office holders are Republicans, Democrats have been especially energized.

There are Democrats running for every one of those offices up for election this year, including Cobb Commission District 3, State Senate District 32, all five State House seats in East Cobb and two Cobb Board of Education seats.

All of those Democrats are also women, with four of the legislative candidates being from minority groups.

 

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