Sparks fly in Fulton Commission contests during early voting across the metro

The Fulton County Commission will look much different in January after voters choose a new chair and either three or four new commissioners.

The races for five of the commission’s seven seats are just a few of the many local contests on Nov. 3 ballots across metro Atlanta.

Early voting started Tuesday and runs through Oct. 30.

The five seats up for grabs on the Fulton Commission include the northern District 1 spot, where incumbent Republican Bridget Thorne is embroiled in a rematch with Democrat Maggie Goldman. Thorne beat Goldman four years ago by just 394 votes out of 72,410 cast.

In District 4, a four-way special election will determine who wins the seat Mo Ivory vacated to run for chair. She beat longtime Chair Robb Pitts in the Democratic primary runoff election in June and now faces Republican attorney Eric J. Tatum.

Here are some of the competitive local races to watch in metro Atlanta.

Fulton Commission, District 4

Fulton Commission District 4 includes parts of the cities of Atlanta, Hapeville, East Point and College Park. Two of the candidates for that seat are former Commissioner Natalie Hall and progressive nonprofit leader Rohit Malhotra, who narrowly lost last year’s race for Atlanta City Council president.

Also running in District 4 are Aaron A. Sampson Jr., a former nonprofit chief executive, and Karen Rene’, a former East Point City Council member.

Hall served as a Fulton commissioner from 2017, when she won a special election, until after Ivory beat her in the 2024 primary runoff election.

In an interview, Hall said her past experience and relationships with county department heads would help her tackle challenges like passing a budget that provides enough resources for health and human services, as well as the justice system. That includes helping the courts handle their caseloads and supporting diversion programs to ease jail crowding, she said.

“This seat has been vacated for quite some time, and whoever is elected on Nov. 3, which I am hoping will be me, will have to step in as soon as those votes are certified and begin working,” Hall said. “And if you don’t have the experience, you’re not going to know where to even start.”

Malhotra, founder and executive director of The Center for Civic Innovation, said his priorities include helping residents, especially working-class families, afford their day-to-day needs. He also emphasized the importance of funding healthcare, the justice system, arts and culture, and libraries. And he said a top priority is to address gun violence as a public health crisis.

“I think at a time like now, where democracy is in so many ways under attack, I think improving and strengthening democratic processes is going to be a high priority for this commission,” he added.

Malhotra also alluded to a sexual harassment scandal that hobbled Hall’s 2024 reelection campaign.

In September 2023, other Fulton County commissioners censured Hall following a federal hearing on her affair with a former chief of staff. In that hearing, Hall repeatedly took the Fifth Amendment when asked if she placed tracking devices in the man’s car.

In 2024, a federal judge ruled the county was liable in the sexual harassment case, which cost taxpayers roughly $1 million in penalties and fees.

“That money could have been used to deliver better services or deliver on promises to their communities, or repair senior homes or invest in diversion programs or art and culture or mental health services,” Malhotra said.

Hall said she has taken responsibility for the mistake and learned from it.

“I would prefer to look forward because moving forward is what we need to be focused on, especially with all of the things that we have to deal with, such as homelessness and needing to fund a jail that’s crumbling around us, where inmates are killing each other,” she said.

Sampson has run nonprofit organizations, including one that rents out tools to other nonprofits, such as rakes or shovels, for them to use while doing community service.

He said young people and seniors alike need more support and neighborhoods need to be revitalized. Sampson also emphasized the need to improve public health opportunities, including for mental health, and the county’s justice system and jail conditions.

“We can’t treat our inmates like animals,” Sampson said. “We should find a way to treat them as human beings.”

Rene’, who served on the East Point council for about 10 years, emphasized the importance of increasing healthcare opportunities, safe communities and good jobs.

She added: “The studies show that a lot of seniors are one tax bill away from losing their house, so we want to make sure that we’re not raising property taxes, especially during these inflationary times, because everybody is being squeezed.”

As a council member, Rene’ said she raised money for 800 electronic tablets for students who had no more than one computer, and helped establish a food distribution center during the pandemic.

“I bring good, proven results,” she said. “I’m reliable, I have good stability, and I am bringing the idea for a better future, a brighter tomorrow, for Fulton.”

Fulton Commission, District 1

In District 1, personal attacks have punctuated the contest between Thorne and Goldman, a real estate agent and former chair of the board for Fulton’s Continuum of Care, a program that seeks to end homelessness in the county.

Goldman has questioned whether Thorne’s loyalty lies with the county or with MAGA Republicans, pointing out that Thorne was listed as a witness in an affidavit the U.S. Department of Justice used to justify the January raid of a county election operations center.

This week, Thorne attacked Goldman by citing a police report of an incident Feb. 5 at Barnwell Elementary School in Johns Creek. A kindergarten teacher alleged Goldman became verbally abusive after a meeting, which caused the teacher to back away, according to the Fulton County Schools Police report.

The teacher said she did not think any students witnessed the behavior but that staff members were “escorting, monitoring and shielding the students on the far side of the classroom to ensure their security and non-exposure to the negative behavior,” the report says.

The Fulton school system’s police department has concluded its investigation with no charges or citations issued, a spokesperson said.

“A smear campaign is what she’s running,” Thorne said. “Then it comes out that — we’ve known that she has some anger-management issues of her own for quite some time now. Those have seemed to come out.”

In a video statement about the incident on social media, Goldman apologized to the teacher and staff members involved in the incident at her child’s school.

“As a parent, when something involves your child, it can become incredibly emotional,” she said in the video. “You want to protect them. You want answers. Sometimes you react more strongly than you should. That explains where I was coming from. It does not excuse the part I could have handled better.”

Fulton Commission, District 5

In District 5, the matchup is between Democrat Helen Willis, a former South Fulton City Council member, and Tiffany Henyard, a lifelong Democrat who is running as a Republican. Henyard moved to Union City last year, leaving behind a litany of controversies from her term as mayor of Dolton, Illinois.

Willis won the Democratic nomination after she bested Sojourner M. Grimmett in the June runoff election. On Wednesday, she said she worked hard as a South Fulton council member to address food insecurity and a lack of access to healthcare, and already has a relationship with the county’s justice system leaders.

“My opponent has only been in Fulton County for a year,” she said. “My years of service started over nine years ago, and when I left office, I left my office in good standing.”

Henyard said she should be elected because she is the most qualified candidate, one who wants to address the poor conditions in the county’s jail and fix up the roads, which she said especially need it in south Fulton County.

As for her past in Illinois, she said: “People can bring up any type of controversy. And it’s funny that people talk about others, whereas you guys have your own corruption, your own issues here in Fulton County.”

The other Fulton Commission race on the ballot is in District 3. The current commissioner, Dana Barrett, ran unsuccessfully for secretary of state.

Republican retiree Paul Burton is running against Democrat Jodi Merriday, who has served as ombudsman of neighborhoods for Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, ombudsman of Atlanta Public Schools and as an assistant professor and lecturer at several colleges and universities in Georgia.

Cobb Commission, District 3

In Cobb County, Democrat Kevin Redmon is hoping to unseat Republican JoAnn Birrell, who is running for a fifth term.

Redmon, who works in information technology software sales, said Cobb is changing, with younger families moving in who want to live where there are good schools and things to do near their homes, without traffic headaches.

“I am coming in with a good amount of experience and understanding what’s really needed here in the county,” he said. “The county’s evolving, and I think it’s ready for leadership that reflects the direction the county is moving.”

In an email, Birrell said it’s important, in a changing county, to have a leader “who knows the job and one that listens to constituents and responds to everyone.”

She said her top priorities are supporting public safety and keeping property taxes low.

“With 16 years of experience and knowledge as an elected leader, I bring stability, integrity, wisdom and compassion to the table,” Birrell wrote in an email to the AJC. “I am the voice of reason and would like to continue serving District 3 and Cobb County.”

DeKalb and Gwinnett commissions

DeKalb County has two competitive races for its Board of Commissioners.

In District 2, incumbent Democrat Michelle Long Spears faces Ben Pepper, a self-employed Republican.

And in District 3, Democrat Keyanna Jones Moore, an environmental policy aide, faces Republican business owner Andrea Bass Smith.