Anti-tax sentiment and distrust of incumbent candidates seemed to take their toll on Tim Lee, who was forced into a runoff Tuesday in his bid for re-election as chairman of the Cobb County Commission.
Lee will face former Cobb Chairman Bill Byrne in August in the race for the top leadership post in the state's fourth-largest county. Because no Democrats ran for the seat, the race will end with the runoff.
As election results clarified the runoff picture, Lee's optimistic outlook of an outright win had shifted to three more weeks of hard campaigning.
"We've got to be very clear about the differences between [me and Byrne]," Lee said Tuesday from his watch event at a Kennesaw hotel. "I"m looking forward and have a concrete vision [for the county] to make Cobb the powerhouse that it is. Byrne is looking forward by looking in the rearview mirror, and that's not a recipe for success, that's a recipe for getting stuck in the mud."
Much of Tuesday's outcome could likely be traced to Lee's connection to the regional transportation tax referendum for metro Atlanta, which was also on Tuesday's ballot and met strong resistance in Cobb. As one of the 21 local officials who devised a project list for the tax plan, Lee was seen as one of the most outspoken members of the roundtable. As the criticism of the transportation plan in Cobb heated up, Lee tried to distance himself from the proposal, repeatedly reminding residents that he was not advocating for the plan, only educating people about it. But the aversion was to no avail.
And Byrne, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday night, never let Cobb voters forget Lee's involvement in the transportation proposal, as well as Lee's support of a local county sales tax and a property tax hike of almost 16 percent that commissioners approved last year.
Four Republican candidates participated in the months-long campaign, but it was mostly a race between Lee and Byrne, who criticized Lee as a chairman who "never met a tax he didn't like."
Byrne's opposition to the transportation tax and his proposal to roll back the county's tax increase earned him the endorsement of the Cobb Taxpayers Association and the county's police organization.
During the campaign, Lee's deep business roots helped him raise thousands of dollars from members of the county's Chamber of Commerce and others in the business community, allowing him to nearly outraise and outspend all three of his challengers combined. But those same relationships also hurt him with some voters, as his detractors criticized Lee's close ties to that community.
Part of the next phase of the race will involve re-energizing voters, particularly supporters of third-place challenger Mike Boyce.
Boyce, a retired Marine colonel, began as a dark horse in the race. He was supported by a faction of connected east Cobb residents, including former Cobb Commissioner Thea Powell. Like Lee, Boyce was viewed as a more level-headed candidate than Byrne, who is known for his sometimes volatile and aggressive leadership style. But unlike Lee, Boyce did not support the transportation plan.
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