The Cobb Board of Elections on Friday announced that Mary Frances Williams is the official Georgia House District 37 winner after a recount.
The recount was requested by her opponent, incumbent Republican State Rep. Sam Teasley, after he finished 137 votes behind Williams, a Democrat from Marietta.
Teasley, a real estate agent, has represented the district that includes a portion of Northeast Cobb since 2010.
Williams, who was running for elected office for the first time, is the daughter of a former Marietta mayor and legislator and has been a lobbyist for children’s issues at the General Assembly.
She is one of three Democratic challengers to defeat Republican incumbents in East Cobb races on Nov. 6. Lucy McBath ousted U.S. Rep. Karen Handel in the 6th Congressional District election, while Charisse Davis beat Scott Sweeney for a seat on the Cobb Board of Education.
Cobb Elections also has released a precinct-by-precinct breakdown of state and local races, as well as ballot issues, that were on the general election ballot.
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The Cobb Board of Elections will conduct a recount into one of the closest legislative races in the state this year, in Georgia House District 37.
The district includes part of Northeast Cobb, as well most of the city of Marietta and some of west Cobb.
The recount was requested by Republican State Rep. Sam Teasley (pictured), who according to results certified Monday by Cobb Elections lost to Democrat Mary Frances Williams by 137 votes.
According to official numbers, Williams received 11,928 votes (50.34 percent), to 11,755 votes for Teasley, or 49.61 percent.
Teasley, first elected in 2010, is a real estate agent who works out of the Atlanta Communities office on Roswell Road in East Cobb.
Williams is a first-time candidate who has been a children’s advocate at the Georgia General Assembly. Her late father was the mayor of Marietta and served in the legislature.
According to Cobb Elections Supervisor Janine Eveler, her agency will conduct the recount at its offices on Whitlock Avenue in Marietta. The Cobb Board of Elections, which is appointed, is tentatively set to meet to certify the recount at noon Friday, according to county spokesman Ross Cavitt.
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Sam Teasley finished 173 votes behind Mary Frances Williams in the State House District 37 race.
On Monday, Cobb election results were certified from last Tuesday, with the possibility of a recount looming in a legislative seat that includes part of Northeast Cobb.
Tuesday 5 p.m. is the deadline for all county elections boards in the state to certify their results and report them to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, which was closed Monday for the Veterans Day holiday.
Stacey Abrams won Cobb but Brian Kemp took most East Cobb precincts.
Most counties, including Cobb, have finished. DeKalb and Gwinnett county elections boards are the subject of a lawsuit filed Monday by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
Abrams, who won Cobb County, has not conceded to Republican Brian Kemp, who holds an unofficial lead of under 60,000 votes and who has declared victory. She is vying for a runoff.
A runoff could take place in State House District 37, where Republican incumbent Sam Teasley trailed Democratic challenger Mary Frances Williams by 137 votes. That seat includes part of Northeast Cobb, much of the city of Marietta and a portion of West Cobb.
The re-elections of Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell and Cobb school board member David Chastain (Kell and Sprayberry) were certified, as was Charisse Davis’ win for another Cobb school board seat in East Cobb that had been held by Scott Sweeney (Walton and Wheeler).
David Chastain was re-elected to the Cobb Board of Education.
Other East Cobb legislative incumbents all won last Tuesday, but final results have to be certified in some of those races since they include more than one county.
The same goes for the 6th Congressional District race, which includes East Cobb, North Fulton and north and central DeKalb. Democrat Lucy McBath edged Republican incumbent Karen Handel by a little more than 3,000 votes.
Also certified by Cobb elections on Monday was the biggest landslide winner of them all: the so-called “Sunday brunch bill,” which would allow for Sunday alcohol sales as early as 11 a.m., instead of the 12:30 p.m. start currently permitted.
In unincorporated Cobb, voters approved the measure with a whopping 71 percent of the vote. The measure passed in Cobb cities by similar margins.
Georgia Governor
Brian Kemp (R)
Stacey Abrams (D)
Ted Metz (L)
Statewide
1,976,614
1,918,847
37,173
State %
50.26
48.79
0.95
Cobb only
138,850
168,764
4,194
Cobb %
44.50
54.09
1.34
6th District Congress
Lucy McBath (D)
Karen Handel (R-I)
Districtwide
159,945
156,752
District %
50.50
49.50
Cobb only
40,807
51,297
Cobb %
44.26
55.63
Cobb Commission 3
JoAnn Birrell (R-I)
Caroline Holko (D)
Total Votes
36,450
34,290
Vote %
51.46
48.41
Cobb school board 4
David Chastain (R-I)
Cynthia Parr (D)
Total Votes
20,630
17,907
Vote %
53.50
46.43
Cobb school board 6
Charisse Davis (D)
Scott Sweeney (R-I)
Total Votes
21,771
20,640
Vote %
51.29
48.63
State Senate 32
Includes most of East Cobb and portions of North Fulton.
Kay Kirkpatrick (R-I)
Christine Triebsch (D)
Total Votes
52,870
39,288
Vote %
57.37
42.63
Cobb Votes
47,558
33,718
Cobb %
58.49
41.47
State House 37
Mary Frances Williams (D)
Sam Teasley (R-I)
Total Votes
11,928
11,755
Vote %
50.34
49.61
State House 43
Sharon Cooper (R-I)
Luisa Wakeman (D)
Total Votes
13,122
12,379
Vote %
51.52
48.41
State House 44
Don Parsons (R-I)
Chinita Allen (D)
Total Votes
14,170
11,422
Vote %
55.33
44.60
State House 45
Includes parts of East Cobb and North Fulton.
Matt Dollar (R-I)
Essence Johnson (D)
All Votes
17,003
11,681
Vote %
59.28
40.72
Cobb Votes
15,896
9,574
Cobb %
62.39
37.57
State House 46
Includes part of Northeast Cobb and Cherokee.
John Carson (R-I)
Karin Sandiford (D)
All Votes
17,458
10,783
Vote %
61.82
38.18
Cobb Votes
11,679
7,707
Cobb %
60.22
39.74
Cobb ‘Brunch Bill’
To allow Sunday alcohol sales at 11 a.m. instead of 12:30 p.m.
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The District 37 Georgia House seat that includes portions of Northeast Cobb will feature a three-term incumbent against a first-time candidate.
Republican State Rep. Sam Teasley did not have primary opposition in May. Mary Frances Williams won a three-way Democratic primary without a runoff.
He is a realtor and the vice chairman of the House Republican Caucus. She is a social worker and lobbyist, and the daughter of the late Marietta mayor and state representative Howard Atherton.
District 37 also includes portions of the city of the Marietta and West Cobb.
Teasley has advocated conservative positions on fiscal and cultural issues during his time in the legislature.
He is the sponsor of the Direct Primary Care Act, which he says will expand “healthcare freedom” for families by declaring that direct care agreements are not considered insurance.
Teasley also voted this year to reduce corporate and individual income tax rates and supports a state constitutional amendment that would require a super-majority vote in the legislature for any tax increase.
He also has been a sponsor of legislation to raise the cap on state tax credits for private schools.
He has been endorsed by the Family Policy Alliance, which is a public policy arm of the conservative Christian organization Focus on the Family.
Williams has been an advocate for full funding of Quality Basic Education in Georgia. Her top priority is working for better access to health care. As a lobbyist she advocated for the Family Care Act, which became law last year. It allows for employees to use sick leave to care for ailing family members.
On transit matters, she favors what she calls a “a proactive statewide transportation policy” that includes Cobb County.
Williams said she is running now, after working as a lobbyist for 30 years at the State Capitol, because “I’ve become increasingly frustrated by the lack of movement on issues that matter.”
She has received endorsements and backing from the AFL-CIO, Georgia Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood Southeast and Georgia WINS, which supports Democratic candidates.
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