Democrat Eric Gisler wins in Northeast Georgia House special election

Democrats gained a northeast Georgia House seat during an off-year special polling Tuesday in the latest sign of their growing momentum in the state Eric Gisler a Democrat won Tuesday night s special polling to decide who will finish former Republican state Rep Marcus Wiedower s term Eric Gisler a tech executive and small business owner took the lead in the Athens-area district with of the vote according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State s office Republican candidate Mack Dutch Guest IV was nearly votes behind with of the vote And in metro Atlanta two candidates vying for an open House seat are headed to a runoff after no one managed to clear the threshold required to win a seat outright in the six-way contest Republican Bill Fincher and Democrat Scott Sanders advanced to a Jan runoff The two races are the latest in a series of off-year special elections for state legislative seats in Georgia to replace lawmakers who have died resigned or been appointed to other political offices Here are the results from Tuesday s elections House District Progressive voters had cause for celebration in the race for House District Gisler gained a narrow lead over Guest the Republican candidate late Tuesday night The conservative-leaning district which covers parts of Clarke and Oconee counties has been under Republican control since However former state Rep Marcus Wiedower a Watkinsville Republican abruptly resigned from his seat earlier this year to focus on his work as vice president of external affairs at the real estate firm Hillpointe Gisler who made affordability a key focus of this year s campaign previously challenged Wiedower in but received less than of the vote This year he credited his campaign s success to a strong ground contest as well as his focus on issues like vitality care access and the rising cost of living which he commented likely appealed to certain Republican voters We had the right message in this time Gisler mentioned in a phone call adding that his opponent ran on tired MAGA talking points Guest an Oconee County resident who helps run a Watkinsville-based transportation business centered his campaign around protecting conservative values as well as improving transportation strengthening development and keeping communities safe He did not at once respond to a request for comment Tuesday night Ken Martin who chairs the Democratic National Committee celebrated Gisler s win drawing comparisons to the party s historic November supremacy in which Democrats flipped two seats on the state s Constituents Institution Commission wins that Georgia Democrats had declared earlier helped to lift their hopes in the legislative race Fresh off the resounding victories in the Georgia Inhabitants Function Commissioner races and now this historic flip the DNC will continue to invest organize and compete in every corner of Georgia he disclosed in a announcement House District A second special polling over a metro Atlanta seat was less decisive Republican Bill Fincher and Democrat Scott Sanders will be advancing to a runoff polling after each candidate received about a quarter of the vote during Tuesday s balloting according to unofficial results Georgia law requires a runoff ballot when no candidate secures more than of the vote Fincher a Republican former district attorney who now owns an RV park finished with the majority of votes at good for of the vote while Scott Sanders a business executive got votes or about The remaining votes were divided among four other Republican candidates Republican state Rep Mandi Ballinger of Canton died in October after a long battle with cancer leaving her seat open The district which includes Canton part of northern Holly Springs and the surrounding unincorporated areas heavily favors a Republican In a phone call Fincher reported he chalked up his first-place finish to his club connecting directly with voters and he thanked his opponents and urged for their help for the coming runoff Our biggest strength was teamwork communication directly with the voters and with the quality of people that ran all the candidates top-notch people trying to do their best all being positive all dignified And when you run a race like that there s mutual respect among every one of us Fincher reported Sanders reported his second-place finish shows there s Democrats up here in Cherokee County We went into this eyes wide open knowing how red the district was he noted It was a district that Trump won by points so we knew it was going to be an uphill battle but we also intended to take this seriously and make it a hard-fought campaign and we did Sanders revealed he would not have made it to the runoff without his band of helpers who knocked on nearly doors in three weeks in order to get out the vote With the runoff set for Jan less than a month away with majority of that right in the middle of holiday season when people are more concerned with excursion and celebrations than politics both remaining candidates declared they will work hard to keep up the momentum The runoff may receive more attention after Gisler s upset win Georgia Republicans we need to sound the alarm from now until November starting with helping Bill Fincher win the runoff for HD Republican Insurance Commissioner John King who is up for reelection next year posted on social media Our donors aren t motivated and our voters aren t either The post Democrat Eric Gisler wins in Northeast Georgia House special balloting appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta