Kevin Abel

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.

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

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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