A recount of last week’s special election in state Senate District 21 confirmed earlier results, sending Republican candidate Jason Dickerson and Democrat Debra Shigley to a runoff election later this month.
The recount by the secretary of state’s office confirmed Shigley took the top spot, with roughly 40% of the vote. Republicans Dickerson and Steve West were neck-and-neck for the second-place finish, but Dickerson again narrowly edged out West by 65 votes.
“Our battle-tested voting system and its verifiable paper trail delivered a recount matching the original results — allowing county officials to quickly move forward and focus on the runoff,” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said.
In a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dickerson said, “I look forward to Steve West joining the long list of Republicans united behind our campaign to defeat woke liberal Debra Shigley in the runoff.”
West did not respond to a request for comment from The AJC.
The candidates will compete Sept. 23 to fill the vacant state Senate seat, which covers parts of Fulton and Cherokee counties. It opened when the former occupant, Brandon Beach, left to serve in President Donald Trump’s administration as U.S. treasurer.
Georgia Senate Republicans had already congratulated Dickerson last week, saying “he ran an impressive campaign, competing against five fellow Republicans in this deep-red district.”
In a post on Facebook earlier Thursday, Dickerson announced endorsements he received from other state lawmakers and prominent figures in the area.
“I’m ready to deliver!” he said in the post.
The recount involved rescanning all of the paper ballots and took about a day to complete.
Staff Reporter Mark Niesse contributed to this story.
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