Fulton County residents have a new county commissioner and the Atlanta school board has a new representative after voters went to the polls on Tuesday.
Joe Carn won the race for Fulton County commission, representing District 6, according to unofficial vote totals. He beat former county commissioner Gordon Joyner by a two-to-one margin to represent unincorporated Fulton County, Chattahoochee Hills, Palmetto, Fairburn and Hapeville as well as parts of College Park, South Fulton, Union City, East Point and Atlanta.
Carn will serve through the end of 2020 to fill the seat vacated with the death of longtime county commissioner Emma Darnell earlier this year.
Carn, 48, is a former College Park city councilman. He intends to improve the county’s court system, including getting it more funding; build a senior center in the district; and improve communication in the district.
In the school board race, Aretta Baldon bested Davida Huntley, according to unofficial vote totals. The pair were competing for the central Atlanta District 2 seat on the Atlanta Board of Education. The seat had been held by Byron Amos, who left the board earlier this year to run for Atlanta City Council.
Baldon will finish out Amos' term through 2021 and will join a school board that's beginning the critical work of hiring a new superintendent.
Baldon, 46, works as a freelancer in photography and marketing. She’s been active in the parent teacher organization at her daughter’s school, KIPP Atlanta Collegiate, a charter school authorized by Atlanta Public Schools.
The candidates’ stance on charter schools had emerged as one difference between them. Baldon has said it’s important to retain options for families, while Huntley has said that District 2 is “saturated” with charter schools and traditional, district-run neighborhood schools need more support.
Fewer than 3% of registered voters turned out for the race.
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