Early voters favor Paul over Carter in Sandy Springs mayoral runoff

Early voting favored incumbent Rusty Paul over Dontaye Carter in the Sandy Springs mayoral electoral process Photos provided by the candidates Incumbent Mayor Rusty Paul took the lead in advance and absentee voting before the Dec runoff according to unofficial results MayorVotesPercentageDontaye Carter Rusty Paul I Updated pm Paul received votes out of the cast in advance and absentee voting with votes cast for Carter Paul led with votes in the Nov municipal mayoral voting totalling percent of the votes cast which sent the race into a runoff Carter s votes were the second highest securing him a spot in the runoff Rough Draft hosted candidate forums with the four candidates in the general municipal balloting and later with Carter and Paul ahead of the runoff referendum Carter attributed his success in reaching the runoff to knocking on more than doors in Sandy Springs and speaking personally to city residents He revealed that after his opponent s a large number of years in office it was time for a change Carter promised area involvement by creating advisory councils on housing transportation and other issues Paul mentioned during his campaign that past successes show promise for the future under his leadership He offered solutions to long-standing problems such as the redevelopment of old shopping centers through the creation of tax allocation districts to provide funding for infrastructure improvements Carter s endorsements mostly aligned with local and area Democratic party administrators including Fulton County Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr Rep Derrick Jackson D-Tyrone the Chairman of the Democratic Party Charlie Bailey former state Rep Stacey Abrams former DeKalb County CEO Mike Thurmond former state Sen Jason Esteves Democratic National Committee member and th Congressional District chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia Maria Banjo and former state Rep Wiliam Boddie Jr Paul gained endorsements from his other two challengers in this voting process Council members Andy Bauman and Jody Reichel endorsed Paul after falling short in the general polling of Nov Council members Melissa Mular and John Paulson who won reelection to their seats also endorsed Paul Paul was also endorsed by Tibby DeJulio the longest-serving elected official who did not run for reelection Paul also received endorsements from Gov Brian Kemp and Gabriel Sterling a former city council member and former chief operating officer for the Georgia Secretary of State an office he s seeking in the vote The mayor won t be seeing DeJulio Bauman or Reichel at council meetings after Jan DeJulio retired from council after years of operation and years of working alongside the city s first mayor Eva Galambos to bring an incorporation vote to the citizens Bauman and Reichel ran for mayor so they will leave office as their terms expire when replacements are sworn in on Jan The term for mayor begins on Jan with the winner of the runoff gets sworn in during a city council meeting that night The six council members including the winner of the District runoff voting will also be sworn in during that meeting Roberts faces Sullivan in District race Frank Roberts received of the votes cast in the Sandy Springs City Council District runoff vote in early voting Michelle Sullivan s supporters cast ballots for her City Council Dist VotesPercentageFrank Roberts Michelle Sullivan Updated pm Four candidates in the general municipal polling sent the Sandy Springs City Council District voting into a runoff also Sullivan s votes in the Nov balloting at percent of the votes cast weren t enough to avoid a runoff falling short of the percent plus one vote required to win the office Roberts a former police officer for Atlanta and Sandy Springs tallied votes sending him to the runoff with Sullivan who runs a small business Rough Draft hosted a forum with the two candidates in the runoff electoral contest on Nov A previous forum with the four candidates in the general municipal electoral process was held on Oct Challengers Steven D Hickey votes and Dave Flynn fell short with less than percent of the vote each in the general poll The candidates sought the seat held by Jody Reichel who ran for Sandy Springs mayor The post Early voters favor Paul over Carter in Sandy Springs mayoral runoff appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta