Just seven weeks after Rep. Karen Bennett (D-Stone Mountain) pled guilty to fraudulently obtaining pandemic unemployment payments, voters in House District 94 headed to the polls Tuesday for a special election for her replacement through Dec. 31, when Bennett’s term ends.
The first competitive election in more than a decade for the Stone Mountain seat, which straddles DeKalb and Gwinnett Counties, attracted four Democratic candidates. Of those, education consultant Venola Mason and former Snellville mayor Kelly Kautz will head to a runoff on April 7.
Mason, a former Atlanta Public Schools teacher, was the leading vote-getter, with 42% of the vote (1,199 votes) in the March 10 special election. Kautz, a lawyer, came in second with 23.2% of the vote (629 votes), according to unofficial results from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.
Mason, 46, and Kautz, 48, fended off two Gen-Z contenders in their early 20s, Audrey Lux and Ikenna Ugwumadu. Lux finished third with 16.3% of the vote (442 votes), while Ugwumadu finished fourth with 16.3% (441 votes).
Voters interviewed by Atlanta Civic Circle said affordability and education were the top issues bringing them to the polls. But simply reaching voters could make the difference in the low-turnout election, which attracted just 2,631 voters.
That was the case for Sonya Chapman, 61, who said she had no idea about the special election until a candidate contacted her. “They just took the initiative to call,” said Chapman, a resident of Stone Mountain’s Mountain Park community. She declined to say whom she voted for.
Kia and Charles White both cast their ballots for Ugwumadu, a 24-year old Georgia State University graduate and former chief of staff to state Sen. Randal Mangham (D-Stone Mountain). The Whites said they wanted to “see a change” in the legislature and were not put off by his youth.
“I like that he is young,” said Charles White, a 57-year-old retired Air Force service member.
Latonya Jordan, 54, a nonprofit grant accountant, voted for Kautz, the lawyer and former Snellville mayor, citing her experience as a guardian ad litem for abused and neglected foster children. “I picked who I thought would be best for this time,” she said.
Lux, who came in third, had hoped to become the first transgender member of the Georgia legislature. The 25-year-old Virginia Tech graduate and former legislative assistant to Rep. Jasmine Clark (D-Lilburn) built a sizable campaign operation. Her campaign manager, Peter Imhoff, said Lux raised $13,000 and recruited two dozen volunteers who knocked on nearly 1,400 doors. Clark also endorsed her.
Though it wasn’t enough to advance, Lux said she was proud of the campaign. “We were able to mobilize people who hadn’t voted in several different election cycles, and we got them out to vote in a special election for the first time in years,” she told supporters after conceding the race.
The prospect of an openly transgender state legislator brought at least one voter to the polls at the Mountain Park United Methodist Church polling place. “It’s a big thing I want to see,” said the 24-year-old, herself transgender, who asked to be identified only as “M,” over concerns about her safety.
Voters will head to the polls again for the regularly scheduled May 19 primary for the House District 94 seat. All four Democratic candidates who ran in the special election have also qualified for that ballot, along with Elmore Alexander, a doctor of osteopathic medicine.
No Republicans are contesting the race, so whoever wins the Democratic primary in May will effectively win the House seat for the 2027-2028 term.