Sara Doyle wins race for appeals court judge

Sara Doyle prevailed Tuesday in the runoff for a seat on the Georgia Court of Appeals, denying Mike Sheffield’s second bid to get on the court.

Doyle, 40, a partner with the firm Holland & Knight, led with 51.8 percent of the vote, with 96 percent of precincts reporting.

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Sarah Doyle.

• Georgia Court of Appeals election results

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Dec. 2 runoff voting:

Local and state results U.S. Senate Georgia Public Service Commission Georgia Court of Appeals Carroll County Clayton County DeKalb County Douglas County Fulton County Gwinnett County

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• Chambliss, Martin in Atlanta | Voters

Nov. 4 voting:

Local and state results U.S. President U.S. Senate U.S. House Georgia Public Service Commission Georgia State Senate Georgia State House Georgia Constitutional Amendments Georgia Supreme Court Georgia Court of Appeals Carroll County Cherokee County Clayton County Cobb County Coweta County DeKalb County Douglas County Fayette County Forsyth County Fulton County Gwinnett County Henry County Rockdale County

She will succeed Judge John H. Ruffin Jr., who is retiring at the end of the year. When sworn in, Doyle will be one of four women on the busy 12-member appellate court.

“I didn’t know what to expect when I got into this race,” Doyle said from her Inman Park home late Tuesday evening. “I’m excited about it, very happy and looking forward to working for the people of Georgia.”

Sheffield called Doyle on Tuesday evening and congratulated her, both candidates said.

As she did a month ago, Doyle built her lead by winning Cobb County by a sizable margin. This time, she also held solid leads in both DeKalb and Fulton counties and narrowly beat Sheffield in his home county, Gwinnett.

On Nov. 4, Doyle led a crowded seven-candidate field with 22.5 percent of the vote. Sheffield finished second, with 20.9 percent.

Since getting into the race, Doyle picked up the support of a number of influential Republican attorneys, as well as some of the state’s deep-pocketed trial lawyers.

Over the past month, she swamped Sheffield in fund-raising by 14-to-1.

During the race, Doyle declined to answer judicial questionnaires offered to the candidates by the Georgia Christian Alliance and Georgia Right to Life, which endorsed Sheffield.

Doyle said the race was nonpartisan and she was treating it as such.

Four years ago, Sheffield, 59, ran for another seat on the Appeals Court. He thought he made it into the runoff. But when the third-place finisher, Howard Mead, discovered that his name was listed incorrectly on 481 ballots in Laurens County, he filed suit.

The Georgia Supreme Court ordered a new election and after Mead spent millions of dollars of his own money on TV advertising, he, not Sheffield, got into the runoff, eventually won by Debra Bernes.

This time, Sheffield got into the runoff but he could not pull off the victory.

“I congratulate Sara and I’m sure she’s going to do a great job,” Sheffield said Tuesday night from his home in Peachtree Corners. “I just feel bad for all my supporters who worked so hard. It’s disappointing.”