U.S. Congressman Hank Johnson appeared set to claim victory in the primary election for Georgia’s 4th Congressional District late Tuesday night, as voting results trickled in on a day marked by long lines and technical hiccups amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Johnson, a Democrat, is poised to win his eighth consecutive term in the metro-Atlanta district, which covers most of DeKalb County as well as parts of Gwinnett and Newton counties and all of Rockdale County. He was first elected in 2006 after a stint on the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners.
As it stood early Wednesday morning, Johnson had enough votes to avoid a runoff after facing two Democratic challengers in Tuesday’s primary, both of whom were seeking elected office for the first time in Georgia. They included William Haston, a U.S. Air Force veteran and operations contractor, and Elaine Nietmann, an attorney.
Without a runoff, the longtime congressman would head to the Nov. 3 general election against Republican candidate Johsie Cruz, who works in health-care insurance.
Along with incumbency, Johnson has a financial advantage with roughly $87,000 in campaign cash. He raised about $360,000 total ahead of the primary, of which roughly $307,000 came from political action committees.
With vote counts coming in late Tuesday, Johnson took a sizable lead over second-place finisher Nietmann to likely avoid a runoff. Runoffs must be held between the top two vote-getters if no candidate gains more than 50% of the vote share for primary and general elections in Georgia.
Tuesday’s primary was marked by long lines and wait times at some polling places in the state, particularly in Atlanta and Savannah. Elections officials attributed slow in-person voting to subpar training in the state’s new voting machines and safety measures put in place amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Statewide, more than three-fourths of the roughly 1.2 million early votes turned in ahead of the primary were cast by mail, marking a historic absentee effort as elections officials pressed for increased participation in vote-by-mail to help curb the spread of the virus.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger stressed the voting challenges Tuesday that more time will be needed to tally up votes before final election results can be declared.
“Due to the nature of this election, we have said multiple times that election results will take time to receive, validate and post,” Raffensperger said. “Voting in a pandemic has posed a variety issues for the elections officials as well as the voters. We look forward to sharing full results.”