Elections are back 🗳️
And not just in Vatican City, where the College of Cardinals conclave will elect a new pontiff to succeed the late Pope Francis.
Voters in Cobb County today will elect County Commissioners for Districts 2 and 4. The path to today’s special election was beset by redistricting disputes and a costly primary runoff for the Democratic side of the ticket.
In District 2, voters will choose between Republican Alicia Adams and Democrat Erick Allen. In District 4, Republican Matthew Hardwick is facing off against incumbent Democrat Monique Sheffield.
The two races will determine the balance of power on Cobb’s Board of Commissioners, which has four district commissioners and a commission chair. With the District 2 seat vacant, the board currently is evenly split between two Democrats and two Republicans.
Some 6,345 votes had been cast heading into Election Day. Of those, 98% were in-person early voting and just 2% were by mail, according to Cobb’s Elections Office.
Public Service Commission primary scheduled for June
Long-delayed elections will also be held for two of the five seats on the state’s utilities regulator, the Public Service Commission, which sets rates for Georgia Power. A June 17 primary will narrow down the field of eight contenders. Candidates must live within the geographical district they represent, but are elected by voters statewide.
For District 2 (East and Southeast Georgia), Republican incumbent Tim Echols is facing a primary challenge from Lee Muns, while Alicia Johnson is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.
For District 3 (DeKalb, Clayton and Fulton Counties) four Democrats will face off in the primary: Daniel Blackman, Keisha Sean Waites, Peter Hubbard and Robert Jones. If needed, a primary runoff will be held July 15. The winner will face Republican incumbent Fitz Johnson on Dec. 2.
Atlanta municipal elections are around the corner: Who’s running?
For Atlanta voters, the roster of candidates for the November municipal elections is quickly starting to fill out. Atlanta Civic Circle has been tracking announcements and filings.
The seats up for a vote are Atlanta’s mayor, city council president, all 15 city council members, and four of nine seats on the Atlanta Board of Education, which oversees Atlanta Public Schools.
To get their names on the ballot, candidates for these positions, which are non-partisan, must submit qualifying materials between Aug. 19 and Aug. 22.
Here’s our breakdown of open and challenged seats:
Mayor: Incumbent Andre Dickens is expected to cruise to reelection, but vying to unseat him are:
- Kalema Jackson, who filed a declaration of intent to accept campaign contributions last week – a preliminary step for a qualifying petition.
- Blandtown resident Marcus Lamar.
- Helmut Domagalski, a.k.a. Helmut Love, a healthcare tech consultant.
- Walter Reeves, who ran against Dickens in 2021.
- Larmetria Trammell, who filed a declaration of intent on April 25.
City Council President: Incumbent Doug Shipman has announced he’s not running for reelection, leaving an open seat. For now, only Atlanta City Councilmember Marci Collier Overstreet (District 11) is officially running, but several other names are rumored.
City Council, District 1: Incumbent Jason Winston could face a challenge from Chosewood Park resident Sean Skillings, who filed a declaration of intent in December.
City Council, District 2: Incumbent Amir Farokhi has announced he will step down from his seat this summer to become head of school at Galloway School, leaving an open seat. So far, five candidates have entered the race:
- Kelsea Bond, a labor organizer and Democratic Socialist. She managed last year’s campaign for State Rep. Gabriel Sanchez (D-Smyrna), the first Democratic Socialist elected to the legislature.
- Williams Jacob Chambers, an engineer and Midtown resident.
- Alex Bevel Jones, who works in Georgia Tech’s Office of Corporate Engagement and has been a restaurant owner.
- James White, a real estate attorney and former assistant solicitor for Fulton County.
- Ocean Zotique, who filed a declaration of intent in March.
City Council, District 3: Incumbent Byron Amos could face a challenge from Perrin Bostic, who filed a declaration of intent on April 1.
City Council, District 5: Incumbent Liliana Bakhtiari could face a challenge from Adam Gore-Wright, who filed a declaration of intent in February.
City Council, District 7: Incumbent Howard Shook is retiring. So far, two candidates have filed declarations of intent:
- Thad Flowers, a senior public affairs specialist for AtkinsRéalis, and a former chief of staff for Atlanta City Council.
- Rebecca King, the president of the Buckhead Condo Alliance and a representative for NPU-B. King ran for mayor in 2021.
City Council, District 11: Overstreet’s seat is open, because she is running for city council president. So far, at least six people are vying to fill it:
- Andre Burgin, a Meta/Facebook researcher and co-chair of the Adams Park Residents Association.
- Steven Dingle, an entertainment manager.
- Nate Jester, a real estate lawyer and co-founder of Cascade Centennial, which partners with nonprofit landowners, like churches, to build mixed-income apartments. The Marine Corps veteran and Harvard Law graduate was raised in Ben Hill. Jester was a finalist for an open Atlanta Board of Education seat earlier this year to replace Eshé Collins, who was elected to city council.
- Wayne Martin, an ordained minister, is the CEO of Covenant Ministry, the outreach ministry for Cathedral of Faith Church. Martin was also a finalist for the same open Atlanta Board of Education seat.
- Bernard Rushin, who filed a declaration of intent earlier this month.
- Sherry Williams, who previously ran for the council’s Post 3 At Large in 2021.
City Council, District 12: Incumbent Antonio Lewis is facing two potential challengers:
- Delvin Davis, who filed a declaration of intent in March.
- Stephanie Flowers, the former chair of NPU-V and the Pittsburgh Neighborhood Association.
City Council, Post 1 At Large: Two candidates have filed declarations of intent to challenge incumbent Michael Julian Bond:
- Juan Mendoza, an executive at Ameris Bank, who has served as president of the Old Fourth Ward Business Association.
- Matt Rinker, a real estate agent and president of the Peoplestown Neighborhood Association.
Atlanta Board of Education, District 2: Incumbent Arretta Baldon faces two challengers:
- Tony Mitchell, a lobbyist for pharmaceutical-maker Gilead Sciences who once interned for longtime U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Columbus).
- Stephen Owens, the policy and advocacy director for Brown’s Promise, which promotes well-resourced, racially integrated public schools. Owens, a former public school teacher, was previously the education director for the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
Atlanta Board of Education, District 6: Incumbent Tolton Pace, whom the board appointed to the seat earlier this year, faces a challenger:
Jonathan Leon, a Ben Hill resident who filed a declaration of intent last week.
Notes from the NRA’s annual meeting in Atlanta
I spent a couple of hours over the weekend at the Georgia World Congress Center attending the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual meeting. Here’s what I took away:
- The NRA doesn’t represent the new generation of gun-owners. The crowd at the Georgia World Congress Center was overwhelmingly old, male and white. That’s a growing problem for the NRA, several gun industry representatives whispered to me. Indeed, data compiled by the National Shooting Sports Foundation and Ammo.com show that new gun owners are increasingly non-white, women, and urban (and liberal). (That said, older, white, rural men still make up the majority of US gun owners.)
NRA members and the gun industry may love President Donald Trump (who attended last year’s meeting in Texas), but they’re not so gung-ho on his tariffs. Indeed, the gun manufacturers I spoke to worried that tariffs will adversely impact their US sales, because their supply chains are overseas. However, some said they were willing to “bite the bullet.”
Today’s newsletter was written by Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon and edited by Meredith Hobbs.
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