Power up: Augusta citizens vote to strengthen mayor's role, and the vote wasn't even close

Joe Hotchkiss, Augusta Chronicle
·2 min read
Toni Seals-Johnson, wife of Mayor Garnett Johnson, waves to the crowd in the 46th annual St. Patrick's Day parade through downtown Augusta on Saturday, March 16, 2024. The signs urged voters to vote "yes" to grant Augusta's mayor a full commission vote.
Toni Seals-Johnson, wife of Mayor Garnett Johnson, waves to the crowd in the 46th annual St. Patrick's Day parade through downtown Augusta on Saturday, March 16, 2024. The signs urged voters to vote "yes" to grant Augusta's mayor a full commission vote.

Augusta's mayor wanted one vote. Voters gave him more than 20,000.

Here are the results of Augusta-area contested races on the May 21 ballot. Unless otherwise indicated, vote totals reflect 100% of precincts reporting.

Augusta mayoral vote

By a 3-to-1 margin Tuesday, Augusta voters approved of bestowing full voting power on Mayor Garnett Johnson. The idea is to help keep Augusta Commission votes from ending in ties or awkward stalemates.

The Georgia General Assembly passed a resolution in its past legislative term that allows a ballot measure to let Augusta voters decide the issue of whether to grant a full commission vote to Augusta's mayor.

With 67 of 68 precincts reporting:Yes: 20,405No: 7,193

More: Augusta District Attorney tentatively wins re-election. Sheriff, judge go to run runoff

Columbia County Board of Education, District 4

A veteran and small-business owner defeated an eight-year incumbent on the Columbia County Board of Education on Tuesday.

Katie Allen won the District 4 seat on the Columbia County Board of Education occupied by Lee Ann Meyer, who was the only candidate to qualify for Roxanne Whitaker's vacated seat in 2016.

Katie Allen: 1,276Lee Ann Meyer: 1,133

Georgia House District 125

A longtime Columbia County public servant is closer to keeping his newly appointed state House seat.

Term-limited Columbia County District 3 Commissioner Gary Richardson resigned early to accept an appointment to fill the unexpired term of Barry Fleming for House District 125, whch covers western Columbia and northern McDuffie counties.

Republican Richardson will face Democratic challenger Kay Turner in the November general election.

Richardson initially faced 22-year-old C.J. Pearson, a Grovetown resident who rose to national internet fame in middle school for his online right-leaning political commentary.

In March, after the race extended into a runoff, Pearson announced the suspension of his House campaign to concentrate more vigorously on the presidential re-election campaign of Donald Trump.

Gary Richardson: 2,950

Georgia House District 131

A construction firm CEO and a retired educator and Army veteran appear headed toward a runoff for Georgia House District 131.

Rob Clifton and Paul Abbott were the top two vote-getters in the five-candidate field.

Five Republican candidates battled to assume the legislative seat held by incumbent Jodi Lott, who chose not to seek re-election.

The winner of Clifton's and Abbott's runoff will face Democratic nominee Heather Rose White in the November general election.

Rob Clifton: 1,887Paul Abbott: 728Russell A. Wilder: 674Benjamin Shawn Cairns: 333David Christian Byrne: 247

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Augusta mayor's voting power grows more teeth; House runoff ahead