After months of announcements and rumors of on-again and off-again campaigns and challenges, the candidate lists are set for the upcoming July election. Friday's qualifying deadline set up for voters the ballots for the Democratic and Republican primaries.
For candidates, the race is just beginning. Up next is two months of forums, debates, appearances and fundraising to win the July primary and move on to the general election in November.
In some metro counties, such as Cobb and DeKalb, residents will not only vote for candidates, but also alcohol and incorporation referendums. And voters in all metro counties will decide whether to approve a 10-year 1-cent sales tax, estimated to bring in $7.2 billion, to pay for a host of transportation projects in a 10-county area.
One of the counties being heavily watched in the runup to July is Cobb, where a host of County Commission, judge, clerk and school board elections vie for attention and votes among a backdrop of the transportation question.
Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee is up for re-election, hoping to win his first full four-year term in a field of three other Republican candidates. No Democrats filed to fill the seat. Lee's strongest opposition has come from former Chairman Bill Byrne is using Lee's support of the transportation plan as a reason to vote against the incumbent.
Also key in Cobb is the race for the southwest area commissioner. Incumbent Woody Thompson had kept everyone in the dark about his re-election plans. The commissioner has been plagued by illnesses this year, generating speculation that he would not be returning. He faces five Democratic challengers in the primary, with strong opposition from community activist and engineering professional Lisa Cupid. Cupid has raised the most money in the race and is steadily increasing her community presence.
Clayton County
The sheriff’s race is expected to be hotly contested. Incumbent Kem Kimbrough faces four challengers, including former Sheriff Victor Hill. Hill faces a 37-count indictment accusing him of misusing public and campaign funds.
DeKalb County
Voters in north-central DeKalb will decide in July whether to make Brookhaven the county's newest city.
Supporters have pledged to keep taxes down in the 12-square-mile swath but provide residents with a local police force and Parks Department if incorporation passes. Opponents have challenged the proposed city’s budget, saying there won’t be enough money for promised services. They also worry about the effect that carving out nearly 50,000 people will have on the rest of the county.
All DeKalb voters, meanwhile, will likely choose their next chief executive in the July primary.
Republicans have not put up a candidate to challenge incumbent Burrell Ellis. Two other Democrats, though, are making a bid to become the county's top official: former DeKalb police officer Gregory Adams and businessman Jerome Edmondson.
Ellis is running on his work during the past four years to cut $130 million from the county budget and touts the thousands of jobs that could be created from the county’s just-launched $1.34 billion overhaul of its water and sewer systems.
His challengers, though, point to last year’s 26 percent hike in the tax rate and ongoing declines in home values as reasons for change.
Fulton County
Four people are challenging the incumbent sheriff, apparently all wanting to take on the task of managing a county jail that’s under federal oversight because of a lawsuit filed over filthy, dangerous and overcrowded conditions. In the Democratic primary, Sheriff Ted Jackson is being challenged by Frank Brown, Curtis Farmer, Richard Lankford and Charles Shelton.
Lankford has served as Fulton’s sheriff before. He was convicted of income tax evasion and extortion in 1990. The charges were later overturned.
Two people are vying to unseat Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand, who by collecting personal fees for billing three cities’ taxes has become the state’s highest-paid elected official, earning $347,000 last year. In the Democratic primary he’ll face John Jamont and tax activist R.J. Morris.
Gwinnett County
Incumbent County Commission Chairwoman Charlotte Nash, a Republican, will face no opposition from either party. She won the office in a special election last year after her predecessor, Charles Bannister, resigned in the wake of a grand jury investigation of dubious land deals.
Incumbent Commissioner Mike Beaudreau, a Republican, faces three party challengers in the primary. Democrats did not field a candidate for Beaudreau’s District 3 seat.
Staff writers April Hunt, Ty Tagami, David Wickert, Johnny Edwards and Tammy Joyner contributed to this article.
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