In a decision reached late last night, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams disqualified Tyrone Brooks Jr. from the field of candidates who today seek to replace his father in the Legislature.
The ruling upholds the decision made by Secretary of State Brian Kemp last week, who said that the younger Brooks had failed to prove a year-long residency in District 55, located in south Atlanta.
“We are pleased with the judge’s order,” Kemp spokesman Jared Thomas said. All polling places have been ordered to put up signage to give notice of the last-minute decision. Any votes cast for Brooks, whether today or in early voting, will not be counted.
Brooks conceded defeat this morning with this statement: “Thank you District 55 -you assured me that you deserve a leader with fresh ideas. I fought for you and you stood with me. I look forward to continuing to serve this community for years to come.” Here's the order:
Six other candidates remain in the race: Alysia Brown, a project manager; Mike Fitzgerald, a small business owner; John Guest, an interior designer; Marie Robison Metze, retired educator; Raghu Raju, attorney; and Shelitha Robertson, attorney.
But Brooks’ disqualification could remove a large chunk of votes from the pool. His father, Tyrone Brooks Sr., was a long-time presence on the ballot – he resigned this spring just before pleading guilty to a single count of federal tax fraud and no contest to five charges of mail and wire fraud.
Another familiar name is involved in that campaign as well: A key Brooks advisor has been Marvin Arrington Jr., son of the former Atlanta city council president.
Another special election in Forsyth County, to fill the seat of state Rep. Mark Hamilton, R-Cumming, who left the Legislature for employment in Tennessee, is also being held today. The race to replace Lee May in District 5 seat for the DeKalb County Commission also is being held today.
Runoffs in all three races are anticipated.
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If anything in this space, we're tuned into moments of collision between hip-hop and politics. So our hearts filled with joy Monday with the state house candidacy of Atlanta rapper Killer Mike, only to be dashed hours later.
From our AJC colleague Daniel Funke:
The man whose given name is Michael Render indicated in his second Instagram post that he's not done with politics.
"I can't run BUT For the folks that were willing to Write in #MichaelRender Thank U so Much. I am gonna run one day and WE WILL WIN. However in Ga I wud have to officially enter as a "write in" vs being an Actual Write in (those are the breaks) but, I really felt it important to draw attention to this race. We have BIG Problems in education, schools and prison reform in Ga and I I wanna see change."
At Peach Pundit, George Chidi writes that Render is being fairly serious:
"Mike and I met briefly during the Occupy Atlanta movement a couple of years ago."
We knew him mostly for his verses on Outkast's "The Whole World" and "Snappin' and Trappin.'" One brief state house campaign, already it's a classic.
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