The results are in: Mike Buck still lost the GOP race to be Georgia’s next schools superintendent.

Buck requested a recount Tuesday after the initial vote from the July 22 runoff election showed him trailing his opponent by 713 votes out of more than 398,000 cast.

But final recount results on Thursday showed only a vote gained in favor of Buck, the state’s current chief academic officer for the Georgia Department of Education.

Irwin County educator Richard L. Woods is now the Republican nominee to be state superintendent. He will face off in November with Democrat Valarie Wilson, the former chairwoman of the City Schools of Decatur school board.

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In addition to being a political and religious leader, Bishop Reginald Jackson also served as chairman of the Board of Trustees of Morris Brown College. (Ben Gray/AJC)

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Carleigh Knight (left) and her sister, Natalie Rogovin, look at Christmas ornaments while shopping at Kudzu Antiques + Modern in Decatur on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. (Natrice Miller/AJC)

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