Georgia selects new legislators

By SHANNON McCAFFREY

Associated Press Writer

Georgia voters elected three state lawmakers Tuesday, while other legislative races appeared headed to run-off elections in December.

Unofficial results showed former state Rep. Buddy Carter, a Republican from Pooler, winning the race to replace state Sen. Eric Johnson along the Georgia coast.

Johnson, former president pro tempore of the Senate, quit to seek the GOP nomination for governor. Carter defeated Billy Hair, a fellow Republican. No Democrats were on the ballot for that seat.

In the race to replace Carter in Georgia House District 159, unofficial results showed Republican Anne Purcell winning back her old seat. Purcell had lost her party's nomination to Carter in the 2004 primary election.

None of the seven legislative races before voters will change the balance of power in the state Legislature. Republicans hold comfortable majorities in both chambers.

In other races, former state lawmaker Ron Dodson, a Democrat from Clayton County, won another trip to the state Capitol after coming out of retirement.

Dodson, who once served as Clayton County Commission chairman, will represent Georgia House District 75, left vacant by the departure of Democrat Celeste Johnson.

In Milledgeville, unofficial results showed independent Rusty Kidd headed for a runoff against one of three opponents. In the battle for second place, Democrat Darrell Black led by 16 votes over Republican Angela Gheesling-McCommon out of 5,513 votes cast and all precincts reporting.

Kidd, the son of veteran state legislator Culver Kidd and a lobbyist for the Medical Association of Georgia, pulled 44 percent of the vote.

Kidd was paralyzed from the chest down following a 1999 motorcycle accident and has been outspoken on the need for stem cell research.

In West Georgia, Republican Kip Smith was leading in the race to replace his father Vance Smith, who left his House post to take the reins at the state Department of Transportation. With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Smith, of Columbus, had pulled 49 percent of the vote, according to unofficial returns.

In the 35th state Senate District including the southwest corner of Fulton County, Donzella James held an early lead in the nine-way race to replace Kasim Reed, who vacated the seat to run for mayor of Atlanta.

James is a former state senator who has made several unsuccessful bids for Congress.