UPDATED: Primary elections wrap up in Tift County

Davis Cobb, The Tifton Gazette, Ga.
·2 min read

May 22—TIFTON — Tift County voters weighed in Tuesday, finalizing the candidates who will be running in the general election later this year.

The County Board of Commissioners will see no competition in the races for District 7 and 5 commissioner, as both Tony McBrayer and Fred Rigdon ran unopposed and will continue to in the general election.

Melissa Hughes has secured the position of Democratic candidate in the election for District 2 commissioner, having 155 votes tallied in her favor over rival candidate Cal Russell Thomas's 66. She will go on to compete against sole Republican candidate Priscilla Prince Nov. 7.

Incumbent Marilyn Burks fought a close race with Ambrose King for the seat of District 1 representative for the Tift County Board of Education, but secured the spot by two votes — 156 votes to King's 154. As no Republican candidates ran for the position, Burks will run unopposed in the general election.

Likewise, District 7 and 3 BOE representatives Jonathan Jones and John Waddell will also have no opposition in November.

In the Republican primary for state House District 169, Tift County voters chose Angie O'Steen over William Roberts, 255 votes to 229. The district includes portions of Tift, Coffee, Irwin and Turner counties and some precincts in those counties haven't reported yet. As of 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, O'Steen led Roberts 5,046 votes to 2,143 across the district with 75% of the affected counties reporting.

In the Republican primary for state House District 170, Tift County voters preferred Jaclyn Dixon Ford over Donny Roberson, 1,021 votes to 292. The district includes portions of Tift, Berrien and Cook counties. Across the district, Dixon defeated Roberson 3,497 to 821.

State Senator and incumbent Carden Summers will run unopposed.

Finally, the Democrat race for the District 8 U.S. House representative saw Darrius Butler claim victory over Vince Watkins, according to reporting from the Associated Press. He will race against incumbent Republican Austin Scott for the District 8 seat later this year. In Tift County, Butler claimed 600 votes to Watkins' 196. Across the 29-county district, Butler led Watkins 15,186 votes to 5,882 as of 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, according to vote totals on the Secretary of State's website; at that time 96.55% of the affected counties had reported in.

Results are unofficial and will be confirmed later in the week. The general election will take place Nov. 7. For more information, contact the elections office at (229) 386-7915.