Karen Handel (Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)
ATLANTA – Former U.S. Rep. Karen Handel was well on her way late Tuesday night to winning the right to try to get her congressional seat back this fall.
While results were trickling in very slowly in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, Handel had built up a big enough lead to withstand a crowded field of opponents and avoid a runoff in August.
With 13.5% of precincts reporting as of midnight, Handel had piled up 71% of the vote, according to unofficial results. Her closest opponent was businessman and author Joe Profit, at just 18%.
Business owner Blake Harbin, former Small Business Administration loan specialist Mykel Barthelemy and retired hair salon owner Paula Smith were running in the single digits.
Handel will oppose Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath, who turned Handel out of office two years ago. McBath won the Democratic nomination for the seat running unopposed.
With a long political and business background in Georgia, Handel has built up tremendous name recognition. The Washington, D.C., native served as deputy chief of staff to then-Vice President Dan Quayle’s wife, Marilyn, before moving to Georgia.
Her business career has included a stint as president and CEO of the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce.
In politics, she has served as chairman of the Fulton County Commission, deputy chief of staff to then-Gov. Sonny Perdue and as Georgia secretary of state.
She ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2010 and for the U.S. Senate in 2014 before winning the House seat in a special election three years ago in what turned out to be the most expensive congressional campaign in U.S. history.
McBath, a gun control advocate whose son was murdered in 2012, then defeated Handel in 2018, becoming the first Democrat in decades to hold the 6th District seat in Atlanta’s northern suburbs, a district once represented by then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Georgia’s 6th Congressional District stretches from East Cobb County through North Fulton and North DeKalb counties.
The race to replace outgoing U.S. Rep. Tom Graves for a congressional seat representing Northwest Georgia looked headed for a runoff late Tuesday night, as results in the state’s coronavirus-stricken primary indicated none of the Republican candidates would claim enough votes to win outright.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a construction company owner, held a lead in the primary over John Cowan, a neurosurgeon who owns a toy shop. As vote counts trickled in late Tuesday, it appeared she would not collect enough votes in the primary to avoid a runoff scheduled for Aug. 11.
In all, nine Republican candidates signed up for the bid to replace Graves, a Republican, who announced late last year that he would not seek re-election. He has held the 14th District seat since first winning election in 2010.
The reliably Republican district stretches from Paulding and Haralson counties north through Rome, Calhoun and Dalton to the Tennessee line.
Little daylight has come between the staunchly conservative candidates in terms of policy points. Eight of them participated in last month’s Atlanta Press Club primary debate in which they alternated between praise for President Donald Trump, disdain for congressional Democrats and a handful of jabs at each other.
At last month’s debate, Greene stressed that her staunchly conservative values align with many of the district’s voters and touted endorsements from influential members of Congress like U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.
“I’m 100% pro-life, 100% pro-gun, and I’m the strongest supporter of President Trump and always have been,” Greene said.
She also faced criticism for deciding to back out of the 6th Congressional District race earlier this year and enter the 14th District contest. John Barge, a former Georgia state school superintendent who ran in the primary, labeled Greene an “opportunist”.
Cowan was criticized by some candidates during the debate for buying products made in China and not in Northwest Georgia for his toy shop. He defended his business practices, saying he has experience negotiating with Chinese manufacturers.
“I’ve been tougher on China than anyone on this panel because I’ve actually engaged them,” Cowan said.
Cowan also said last month he favors moves to reopen local economies emerging from the coronavirus pandemic amid his background in the medical field and that there needs to be a balance between science and economic needs.
The race has also drawn one Democratic candidate, Kevin Van Ausdal, an implementation specialist. He has slightly more than $1,000 on hand to vie for the Republican stronghold seat.
On the Republican side, the race to replace Graves has drawn several deep-pocketed contenders able to prop up their campaigns with personal loans. Of the roughly $3.5 million raised in total by Republican candidates through May 20, nearly half came in the form of loans.
Greene propped up her campaign financing with a $700,000 personal loan that contributed greatly to the more than $1 million she spent through late May. She has roughly $170,000 on hand for the runoff.
Cowan also floated his campaign a $100,000 loan to help boost his roughly $574,000 in spending. His campaign was aided by a late infusion of nearly $118,000 in contributions that have flowed in since May 21.
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 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.
Also running in the Republican primary were Barge, the former school superintendent; Clayton Fuller, a prosecutor and U.S. Air Force veteran; Bill Hembree, a former state House representative; state Rep. Kevin Cooke, R-Carrollton; Matt Laughridge, a businessman; Ben Bullock, a real estate investor and U.S. Air Force veteran; and Andy Gunther, a retired U.S. Marine and businessman.
ATLANTA – State Rep. Matt Gurtler and gun store owner Andrew Clyde appeared headed toward a runoff Tuesday night to decide the Republican nominee in Georgia’s 9th Congressional District Republican primary.
With 77% of precincts reporting in the Northeast Georgia district, Gurtler was in the lead with 25% of the vote, with Clyde running second with 21%, according to unofficial results.
With candidates in Georgia needing to win a majority of the vote to claim a primary nomination outright, Gurtler and Clyde likely will face off in an Aug. 11 runoff for the GOP nomination to succeed U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, who is leaving the House to run for the U.S. Senate.
Former U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, state Sen. John Wilkinson and state Rep. Kevin Tanner were next in the crowded Republican field in a virtual three-way tie at 13%.
Four other candidates were down in the single digits.
Gurtler, a general contractor, has built a reputation in the General Assembly for voting against bills more often than his colleagues. He touts that “Dr. No” record as his way of demonstrating his philosophy of limited government.
Clyde, a U.S. Navy veteran, not surprisingly is a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment. He supports doing away with federal background-check requirements and waiting periods Congress passed in 1993.
Meanwhile, a runoff also was the probable outcome in the 9th District Democratic primary. Also with 77% of the precincts tabulated, small business owner Brooke Siskin held a solid lead with 44% of the vote. However, that likely won’t be enough to avoid a runoff, probably against Devin Pandy, an actor and U.S. Army veteran.
Pandy was running second late Tuesday night with 29% of the vote, slightly ahead of Dan Wilson, a retired reverend, who with 27% support, still had a chance to overtake Pandy and make the runoff instead.
ATLANTA – Longtime environmental advocate Daniel Blackman was on his way Tuesday night toward easily capturing the Democratic nomination to run for the Georgia Public Service Commission’s District 4 seat.
With 39% of precincts reporting, Blackman held a commanding lead over energy-efficiency contractor John Noel with 71% of the vote to 29% for Noel, according to unofficial results.
Blackman will face veteran Republican Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald in November. McDonald is seeking a third consecutive six-term term on the PSC.
Blackman boasts a lengthy resume of environmental activism both in the business and nonprofit spheres. Professionally, he served as senior vice president for environmental affairs and sustainability at Capital Fortitude Business Advisors, where he managed client relationships.
As an advocate for environmental justice, he was appointed by the chairman of the National Wildlife Federation to serve on an Environmental Policy Commission co-sponsored by members of Congress to address renewable energy and public health issues in disadvantaged communities. He also worked with Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Environmental Working Group to set a mandated federal standard for genetically modified foods.
Blackman served as an advisor to the Congressional Black Caucus and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on environmental justice issues and was appointed by then-Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears to serve on the court’s Commission on Children, Marriage and Family Law.
Noel, a former state representative serving an Atlanta district, ran for the PSC two years ago but lost in the Democratic primary. He moved to Augusta in order to run for the District 4 commission seat.
Under a unique provision in state law, candidates for the PSC are elected statewide but must live in the district they represent. District 4 stretches across all of North Georgia and along the state’s border with South Carolina south through Augusta.
Meanwhile, Robert Bryant of Savannah won the Democratic nomination in South Georgia’s PSC District 1 running unopposed. He will challenge Republican Commissioner Jason Shaw, who is seeking his first full term after being appointed to the commission last year.
Voters wait in a long line at the Central Park polling place in Atlanta on Primary Election Day, June 9, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
Hours-long waits in line and technical hiccups with new voting machines greeted Georgians who headed to the polls Tuesday for the state’s primary election amid safety measures prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Voters and local officials reported issues with using the new $104 million voting machines and the ability of short-handed volunteer poll workers to troubleshoot problems as voting lines stretched at polling places from Atlanta to Savannah.
State elections officials warned ahead of Tuesday lines and wait times would be longer as polling places space people six feet apart, take time to clean voting areas and use fewer voting machines to limit capacity. But technical issues seen in some areas like Atlanta and Savannah were unexpected, compounding already long lines.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger traced problems to “a lack of training and planning” by county elections officials, noting most of Georgia’s 159 counties were not experiencing technical issues with voting machines. Counties like Cobb, Richmond and Muscogee were running smoothly, he said.
“By and large, what it comes down to is the competence of the county director,” Raffensperger said in an interview. “It’s not really a machine error. What it’s been is user error, just lack of training for the poll workers.”
Mail-in gone missing
That assessment did not calm frustrations shown by voters at polling places in Atlanta such as at Central Park, where voters queued up for more than two hours Tuesday morning. Many in line said poll workers were struggling to operate the new machines, forcing them to hand out paper provisional ballots while waiting for technical support to arrive.
“We’re hot, we’re tired, we’re bothered,” said one voter.
Lori Krugman, a voter at Central Park, called it a “disaster of a line” that she had wanted to avoid by voting absentee but never received a mail-in ballot after twice requesting one since April. Daniel Murdoch also had to brave the line after not receiving a requested mail-in ballot.
“Not good,” he said.
Concerns over the primary’s integrity were inflamed Tuesday even as more than 1.2 million Georgians cast ballots by mail and during the early voting period ahead of Election Day, a record early turnout that included roughly 950,000 absentee ballots in a push to curb in-person voting amid the virus.
The surge in vote-by-mail and early voting came as state and local elections officials faced a daunting challenge to keep polling places sanitized and safe for voters and poll workers, particularly with polling places in areas like Fulton County closed or consolidated due to COVID-19.
Hours in line
But from the get-go Tuesday, voters in Atlanta like Shannon Christian were angered by what appeared to be a severe lack of preparation on the part of local elections officials.
“Outraged,” is how Christian put it as she approached the three-hour mark of her wait in line at the Central Park precinct.
“It’s frustrating,” said her companion, Gabriel Baawo, both of whom were in a group of people tired from the wait but still fired up to vote after joining protests last week over police brutality and racial injustice.
“I got tear-gassed last Monday,” Christian said. “We’re out here.”
Extended waits and technical problems were not confined to Atlanta. In Savannah, Mayor Van Johnson said Tuesday morning he had “been inundated with calls and messages” from upset voters at polling places in the coastal city.
“This appears to be a widespread issue as individuals have told me that they’ve had to go to work or, in some cases, they were asked to come back at a later time,” Johnson said at a news conference.
Johnson added state and county elections officials should have been better prepared for the issues seen Tuesday, noting the presidential preference primary was delayed twice from its original March 24 date.
“Certainly, we’ve had enough time and enough delays at this point where it should be right,” Johnson said.
Placing blame
State officials were quick to criticize the performance of county officials. Gabriel Sterling, the secretary of state’s chief operating officer, said some counties saw “logistical deployment issues” including poll workers who tried to use voter check-in cards “upside down,” but that officials had not seen any glitches with the new machines.
Sterling also noted state officials fielded reports that poll workers were “not understanding setup or how to operate voting equipment,” a shortcoming he and Raffensperger pinned on local elections directors.
Since purchasing the new voting machines last year, Raffensperger’s office has largely left it to county officials how to provide training for poll workers. He said Tuesday his office provided several rounds of training for county and regional leaders and set up an online training portal for local precincts to use.
“We think that we’ve done a great job on the training aspect,” Raffensperger said. “Other counties are getting it right today.”
But many lawmakers and voting rights advocates were dismayed by Raffensperger’s response, arguing the buck should stop with him as the state’s elections chief.
“Talk about throwing under the bus,” said Johnson, Savannah’s mayor.
Investigation called
State Democratic leaders called for Raffensperger to take more direct action to patch any problems with training or equipment prior to elections set for later this year including the Nov. 3 general election.
“The Secretary of State’s job is to provide adequate support and training for counties as he implemented Georgia’s new voting system, and he has failed,” said Maggie Chambers, spokeswoman for the Democratic Party of Georgia.
And Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, ordered a lawmaker-led investigation into the “unacceptable deficiencies” of the primary that aims to look at more than poll workers, who he said “do not deserve to be blamed for systemic problems beyond their control.”
“The legislative branch of government has an obligation to go beyond the mutual finger-pointing and get to the truth,” Ralston said.
Meanwhile, facing long wait times, many voters hunkered down Tuesday to cast ballots in what they view as the start of an important election cycle that includes contests for president, U.S. Senate, Congress and General Assembly seats.
At St. Philip’s Cathedral in Atlanta, Aroona Toor finally cast her ballot just after 9 a.m. after standing in line since polls opened at 7 a.m. Her feet were tired, her back hurt, but Toor said she felt proud to vote.
“You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” she said.
