Former secretary of state candidate wins seat in Georgia House special runoff election

Angela Moore will be the next state representative to serve House District 90. Submitted photo.

Credit: Picasa

Credit: Picasa

Angela Moore will be the next state representative to serve House District 90. Submitted photo.

A publicist who is also a cooking instructor will be the next Georgia lawmaker to represent House District 90.

Angela Moore, a public relations specialist who finished in third place in a 2010 primary for secretary of state, defeated former state Rep. Stan Watson, who also served as a DeKalb County commissioner, in Tuesday’s special election runoff.

Moore received about 59% of the nearly 3,000 votes that were cast Tuesday, according to unofficial results from the Georgia secretary of state’s website.

The special election was called after longtime state Rep. Pam Stephenson, D-Lithonia, withdrew her candidacy last year. House District 90 includes parts of DeKalb, Henry and Rockdale counties.

District 90 election results

Moore and Watson were the top finishers among six Democratic candidates in the Feb. 9 special election. Watson received about 28% of the 3,000 votes cast in the February election, with Moore getting almost 17%.

The runoff was needed because neither Watson nor Moore received a majority of the about 3,000 votes cast last month.

Moore has run unsuccessfully for office several times, most recently in 2015 when she was removed from the ballot in a special election for Senate District 43 after an investigation determined she did not live in the district.

Watson has had his fair share of scandal while in public office, including pleading guilty in 2017 to receiving about $3,000 in advances for government trips and using the money for personal purposes. Watson, who repaid the money before he was charged with a crime, was sentenced to 12 months of probation and 150 hours of community service for a misdemeanor count of theft by conversion.

The election was open only to Democrats because no Republican had qualified for the seat before the original 2020 election. The special election and runoff were held as a makeup for what would have been the November vote in District 90, which includes portions of DeKalb, Henry and Rockdale counties.

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