SD-01 (R): Former State Rep. Buddy Carter (R) creams former Chatham County Commission Chair Billy Hair (R) 82.1% to 17.9%. I figured Carter would win, but I had no idea it would be that lopsided.
SD-35 (D): There will be a runoff, we just don’t know which two of the four million nine candidates (all Democrats) will be on the ballot. With 69% of the vote in, the three most likely candidates seem to be former State Senator Donzella James, Torrey Johnson (my favorite), and Benny Crane. EDIT: As I’ve been writing this, the AP has called the race for a James-Torrey Johnson runoff.
HD-58 (D): The AP is calling a runoff between Democrats Asha Jackson (my least favorite of the four Democrats in the race) and Simone Bell (who would be the second openly gay member of the General Assembly ever and the first from a racial minority and my favorite for mostly unrelated reasons).
HD-75 (D): Democratic prodigal son (he’s a bastard child) Ron Dodson has reclaimed his seat, defeating Republican Shawn James 60.1-39.9. In a night we’re we seem to be fucking ourselves, we do it again. Dodson left the party before, works for big healthcare, says his biggest goal is tort reform, had failing ratings on the environment, and was for the gay marriage ban.
HD-129 (R): In the all-Republican special, Kip Smith barely missed an outright win in his father’s former seat and will now face total wingnut Steve Earles in the runoff. The guy that seemed the least of four evils came in third. Smith is bad but Earles is a complete nut.
HD-141 (D): We should be thankful for crazy splinter Republicans. Political neophyte, wingnut, and recent college grad Casey Tucker siphoned over 500 votes from the more established Republican Angela Gheesling-McCommon. As it stands now, she and Democrat Darrell Black are separated by sixteen votes (with Black leading) for the right to face indepedent Rusty Kidd in the runoff.
HD-159 (R): The race to replace the aforementioned Buddy Carter wasn’t a race at all, like I expected. Former State Rep. Ann Purcell (whom Carter unseated in the primary) defeated fellow Republican and self-professed “true conservative” Jesse Tyler 79.2-20.8
The runoffs for SD-35, HD-58, HD-129, and HD-141 (and Atlanta Mayor) will be on December 1. A more thorough rundown of the candidates and districts can be found here.
Nothing switched hands, or is slated to switch hands?