Meet the candidate whose victory will now put four women on the Augusta Commission
For the first time in Augusta's nearly-300-year-history, four women will represent districts in city government. Augusta Commissioners Catherine Smith McKnight and Francine R. Scott kept their seats and civic activist Tina Slendak won in District 7. District 2 is held by Stacy Pulliam, whose term expires in 2026.
Here are the results of contested races for the Augusta Commission and the Columbia County Board of Commissioners:
Augusta Commission, District 1
Augusta's incumbent District 1 commissioner avoided a possible runoff Tuesday to keep his seat.
Jordan Johnson managed to stave off four challengers, including former District 1 Commissioner Matt Aitken,to keep the seat he first won in 2020.
Jordan Johnson: 1,559Matt Aitken: 977Kevin de l'Aigle: 0Jo'Rae Jenkins: 228Kenny Osorio: 41
Augusta Commission, District 3
Incumbent District 3 Augusta Commissioner Catherine Smith McKnight bested two opponents 2-to-1 Tuesday to keep her seat.
Two challengers captured only about one-third of all votes − Carol J. Yancy, vice-chairwoman of the Richmond County Housing Autority; and Augusta dentist Joidaz Gaines.
Catherine Smith McKnight: 2,724Carol J. Yancy: 941Joidaz Gaines: 315
More: Power up: Augusta citizens vote to strengthen mayor's role, and the vote wasn't even close
Augusta Commission, District 5
A network operations manager at Cisco has won a seat on the Augusta Commission.
Don "D.C." Clark is an Army veteran, a former radio announcer and the former deputy director of the now-defunct veterans services nonprofit Forces United.
Clark defeated District 5 incumbent Bobby Williams, who won the seat in 2019 in a special election to fill Andrew Jefferson's seat after the incumbent's November 2018 death.
Don "D.C." Clark: 1,901Bobby Williams: 1,698
Augusta Commission, District 7
The race to replace Sean Frantom will put four women serving together on the Augusta Commission.
Tina Slendak is a longtime civic and church volunteer with 25 years of office management experience. She defeated Dr. Marshall Bedder, director of the Medical College of Georgia's Addiction Medicine Fellowship at Augusta University.
Tina Slendak: 2,372Marshall Bedder: 1,384
More: Augusta District Attorney tentatively wins re-election. Sheriff, judge go to run runoff
Augusta Commission, District 9
The superdistrict's incumbent got to keep her seat against a perennial local candidate.
Retired state government employee Francine R. Scott posted a convincing win over Marion Williams on Tuesday.
Scott first won the seat in 2020. Williams won commission races in 1999, 2003, 2013 and 2016 but lost a 2022 bid for mayor.
Francine R. Scott: 7,941Marion Williams: 4,412
Columbia County Board of Commissioners, District 2
An insurance broker is returning to the Columbia County Board of Commissioners, representing his old constituency for a nonconsecutive third term.
Trey Allen represented District 2 from 2008 to 2016, with Don Skinner succeeding him. With Skinner not running, Allen was pitted against retired Marine and longtime Publix employee Mark E. Petersen.
Trey Allen: 1,460Mark E. Petersen: 677
Columbia County Board of Commissioners, District 3
An insurance executive cruised to victory in two Columbia County Board of Commissioners races Tuesday - one to fill an unexpired term, the other to fill a full term.
Michael W. Carraway cofounded ACHS Insurance, which earlier this year partnered with financial services giant Acrisure. He defeated veteran and professional chef Rickey Merideth Sr. for the board's District 3 seat.
Voters might have been confused if they saw the Carraway/Merideth race listed twice on Tuesday's ballot. That's no typo, according to Nancy Gay, executive director of the Columbia County Board of Elections.
Votes were cast to determine two outcomes: first, who would fill the unexpired term of Gary Richardson; then who would serve the following full term of office for District 3. Theoretically, the two political terms could have been served by different people.
To fill the unexpired term:Michael W. Carraway: 2,692Rickey Merideth Sr.: 630
To serve a new, full term:Michael W. Carraway: 2,206Rickey Merideth Sr.: 365
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Augusta Commission incumbents win; Columbia County elect two
