Democratic challenger requests recount in race against Senate minority leader

DeKalb County elections officials will hold a recount of the race for Senate District 41. Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson, D-Stone Mountain, edged out his opponent Sabrina McKenzie in last month’s Democratic primary. Courtesy photos.

DeKalb County elections officials will hold a recount of the race for Senate District 41. Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson, D-Stone Mountain, edged out his opponent Sabrina McKenzie in last month’s Democratic primary. Courtesy photos.

After a close primary race last month, DeKalb County elections officials will hold a recount Wednesday in the contest between Senate Minority Leader Steve Henson and Sabrina McKenzie.

Henson, a Stone Mountain Democrat, beat McKenzie by 111  votes, according to official results from the Secretary of State's office. McKenzie requested the recount.

Henson received 50.4 percent of the vote, with McKenzie pulling in 49.6 percent.

Henson has served in the Senate for 24 years, first spending eight years in the chamber before leaving in 1998 to run unsuccessfully for labor commissioner. He returned in 2002 and has been the Senate’s minority leader since 2011.

It was Henson's first primary challenge since returning to office in 2002.

McKenzie, an ordained minister who teaches liturgical dance, was making her second bid to win a legislative seat.

The 47-year-old New York native, who moved to the Atlanta area in 1989 to attend Morris Brown College, ran for the state Senate in a different district in 2004, coming in third in a seven-way race.

No Republican is running in the district. Unless the numbers change in McKenzie’s favor during the recount, Henson will automatically win the November election and return to the Senate next year.

The recount is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday at the DeKalb County Board of Registration and Elections in Decatur.