East Cobb Election Update

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!

 

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

by

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.

 

Related stories

 

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!

East Cobb Elections Update: Primary results certified; precinct breakdowns

by
East Cobb Election Update, JoAnn Birrell, Caroline Holko
Democrat Caroline Holko (right) got more votes than Republican incumbent JoAnn Birrell (left) in the Cobb Commission District 3 primary. But more GOP voters cast ballots in that race on May 22.

Here’s an East Cobb elections update, with official tallies from the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration, which this week certified the results of the May 22 primaries. We’ve provided the official numbers below of East Cobb-area races, but here are a few other figures of note:

  • A total of 84,284 Cobb voters cast ballots, a turnout of 17.8 percent of the 473,356 registered voters in the county;
  • More Cobb voters voted for Republican candidates at the top of the statewide ticket (governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, etc.) than for Democrats, but only by a slight margin, around 42,000 to around 41,000 on average.

Cobb Commission District 3

  • Caroline Holko (D): 5,767
  • JoAnn Birrell (R, incumbent): 5,634
  • Tom Cheek (R): 3,973
  • James Smith (D): 1,393

Cobb School Board Post 4

  • David Chastain (R, incumbent): 4,600
  • Cynthia Parr (D): 3,469

Cobb School Board Post 6

  • Scott Sweeney (R, incumbent): 4,844
  • Charisse Davis (D): 4,562

State Senate District 32

  • Kay Kirkpatrick (R, incumbent): 11,994
  • Christine Triebsch (D): 8,502

State House District 37

  • Sam Teasley (R, incumbent): 3,012
  • Mary Frances Williams (D): 1,964
  • Ragin Edwards (D): 514
  • Bill Bolton (D): 327

State House District 43

  • Sharon Cooper (R, incumbent): 3,034
  • Luisa Wakeman (D): 2,641

State House District 44

  • Don Parsons (R, incumbent): 2,953
  • Chinita Allen (D): 2,373
  • Homer Crothers (R): 760

State House District 45

  • Matt Dollar (R, incumbent): 3,834
  • Essence Johnson (D): 2,597

State House District 46

  • John Carson (R, incumbent): 2,788
  • Karín Sandiford (D): 1,881

U.S. House District 6

  • Karen Handel (R, incumbent): 13,996
  • Lucy McBath (D): 4,226
  • Kevin Abel (D): 3,019
  • Bobby Kaple (D): 2,762
  • Steven K. Griffin (D): 740

These are Cobb voting totals only; there will be a Democratic runoff on July 24 between McBath and Abel. There will be Republican runoff the same day in the governor’s race between current Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and current Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

The Cobb precinct-by-precinct voting totals can be found here. Several East Cobb precincts had higher than 20 percent turnout:

  • Addison, 23.4 percent;
  • Blackwell, 20 percent;
  • Chattahoochee, 20 percent;
  • Chestnut Ridge, 23 percent;
  • Dickerson, 23 percent;
  • Dodgen, 24 percent;
  • Davis, 21 percent;
  • Eastside 1, 25 percent
  • Eastside 2, 26.8 percent;
  • Elizabeth 2, 21 percent;
  • Elizabeth 3, 23.5 percent;
  • Elizabeth 5, 21 percent;
  • Fullers Park, 21.87 percent;
  • Garrison Mill, 23.64 percent;
  • Gritters, 20.23 percent;
  • Hightower, 22 percent;
  • Lassiter, 20 percent;
  • Mabry, 21.61 percent;
  • Murdock, 23 percent;
  • McCleskey, 24 percent;
  • Marietta 6B, 23 percent;
  • Mt. Bethel 1, 22.61 percent;
  • Mt. Bethel 3, 21.95 percent;
  • Mt. Bethel 4, 23.56 percent;
  • Pope, 20 percent;
  • Roswell 1, 22 percent;
  • Sandy Plains, 20 percent;
  • Shallowford Falls, 22.65 percent;
  • Sope Creek 1, 28.29 percent;
  • Sope Creek 3, 22.79 percent;
  • Timber Ridge, 23.84 percent;
  • Willeo, 23.21 percent.

 

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!