Approximately 55,000 Henry County voters participated in the June 9 primary, shattering turn-out in the local and state primary from four years ago. For comparison, in 2016, a total of 17,637 voters participated in this election.
Before diving into election results, I would like to thank the county elections staff and poll workers that worked behind the scenes to put on this primary. The introduction of new voting machines statewide and election postponements provided a daunting backdrop to this year’s combined primary, but Team Henry rose to the occasion.
Henry County Commission
This year, three seats on the county commission are on the ballot: chair, district I, and district II. The Democratic primary for district II was the only contested election on Tuesday.
Incumbent Commissioner Dee Clemmons won the party’s nomination with 5,537 voters, or 61.04%. Challengers Devlin Cleveland and Tina Marie Coria finished with 22.37% and 16.59% of the vote respectively.
Clemmons will face Steve Richardson in November. Richardson was unopposed in the primary.
Other seats on the commission include district I, where incumbent Johnny Wilson is unopposed, and county chair. Chairwoman June Wood and Democratic challenger Carlotta Harrell were unopposed in their respective primaries and will face off in a rematch of 2016 later this year.
Georgia General Assembly
State representative El-Mahdi Holly, representing the 111th district, won the Democratic party’s primary in a surprisingly close election with Tarji Leonard Dunn. After trailing in earlier vote tallies, Holly finished with 5,611 votes (50.90%) compared to Dunn’s 5,413 (49.10%).
Holly is unopposed in the general election and expected to win re-election to his second term in the state house.
In other contested primaries within the Henry County delegation, state senator Emanuel Jones (D, district 10), state representative Demetrius Douglas (D, district 78), and state representative Pam Stephenson (D, district 90) are expected to win their respective primaries. Each is unopposed in November.
Henry County School Board
School board members Pam Nutt (district I) and Holly Carter Cobb (district III) have won re-election in their respective districts. Because these positions are non-partisan, they do not appear on the November ballot.
In district II, the election will be decided in a runoff held on August 11 between incumbent Josh Hinton and Makenzie McDaniel. Hinton finished with 5,730 votes (45.63%) followed by McDaniel (2,876 votes, 22.90%). Other candidates Gewel Richardson and Sharon McMeans-Lukiri received 17.61% and 13.86% of the vote respectively.
Henry County Sheriff
Finally, the most debated election in Henry County has been narrowed from ten candidates to three. The Democratic primary featuring seven candidates will require an August 11 runoff.
Reginald Scandrett received 14,842 votes (39.77%). Finishing in second and advancing to the runoff, Tony Brown received 8,204 votes (21.98%). Other candidates finished as follows:
- Brian K. McGee – 12.28%
- Eric J. Wilson – 11.30%
- Gazzara Ricardo Hill – 5.49%
- Curtis S. Farmer – 4.67%
- Marion D. Calhoun – 4.51%
In the Republican primary, Jack Redlinger won the party’s nomination with 10,575 votes (57.32%). Other candidates Kenny Lee and Willie Brown finished with 29.99% and 12.69%.
Full election results for all offices are available on the Secretary of State website.
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