The GOP Primary was Full of Surprising Election Results

I know many people are disappointed about GOP Primary last night. I am as well for many of the candidates that we know were better choices for Hall County. One thing we cannot forget is change is not immediate. The establishment and the Gainesville Godfathers have not been smacked in the mouth like this ever. It could have been worse if more than 25% (roughly) had turned out to vote.

The Runoff will be on June 16^th with one week of early voting.

No one has ever stood up to them like the crew of GenXers, Millennials, GenY and some GenZers have done this election. They do not know what hit them. They know they are on the verge of losing their grip on this County. Gainesville, and Hall County, are at a crossroads right now. That transition from small town to urbanized type city. The “Good Ole Boy” network does not work in larger cities. Too many outsiders move in, and the establishment does what they can to hold onto power. Right now, it is time to decide which way we want to go with the future of Hall County.

This is evident of how they are acting. They are spending money like never before on candidates. We are talking to people spending $50K+ on commission seats. We are talking about actual contributions or loans that people have given themselves. It is evident when candidates are threatened to be sued for factual comments. It is evident when they are attacking social media groups and claiming they are the reason for the slowdown in growth and shaming people from actually doing what they want with their property. That is 100% Teetotal BS. They know it. We know it.

Now is not the time to give up. We have to keep the fight up and win these runoffs and use that momentum to feed into the next election.

Let us take this race by race. I am not going to get into the reasons for anything. Just how the votes shaped up and why it matters. Many people did not know what to do with all the people on the ballot. I talked to several poll workers who said people were shocked at the candidates and how SPLOST was worded. Said many took the sample ballots and left and many never came back. Some went outside, or home, to do some last-minute research or call people to see whom to vote.

*** All results taken from the Hall County Government Elections Results Website.

Hall County Solicitor

John Batchelor versus Inez Grant. Grant was a good race. I think if more people turned out, John could have won. Anyway, Grant, who was basically an incumbent, ended up with 60.51% of the vote. Batchelor ended up with 39.49%. The solicitor’s office has been in a shambles for years and Batchelor offered a real change to what was going on under Woodard, and then Grant, who replaced her after she was forced out of office. Batchelor laid a solid foundation for future runs and the people showed they still want change and accountability. No one knew John’s name before this. Grant was a well-known name and has been in and out of the system here for years.

The winner of this race won the seat as there is no Democratic Opponent.

Hall County District Attorney

This race was a tough one. You had Lee Darragh, a well-liked 20-year DA in office. Not only that, but he was also groomed for the job for 20 years before he got it. He was groomed by Bruce Udoph, Lydia Sartain and then Jason Deal. Then you had Shiv Sachdeva. He was a former 18-year employee of the district attorney’s office. He resigned earlier this year to run against Darragh. He did this out of respect for the man and not have office tension.

Shiv had to put up with a lot of racial posts, harassment, and many other things. Just because he was from India. He has been here well for over 20 years. The comments he would receive were disgusting. He had an uphill battle and put up a great fight and showed his class and courage. He drew 18.14% of the vote. That is not too bad for someone facing the obstacles he faces. Online harassment, running against an institution, and the establishment. Shiv mentioned severe deficiencies in the district attorney’s office and job performance. Sometimes you win, even when you lose. Shiv brought many things to light and have people talking.

The winner of this race won the seat as there is no Democratic Opponent

Hall County Commission District 1

This race is going to runoff between Incumbent Kathy Cooper, who received 43.29% of the vote, and political newcomer Mark Turner, who got 28.14%. In fact, this district had three political newcomers in it as the citizens were tired of the job Mrs. Cooper was doing. You have Korey Anderson who gathers 18.2% of the vote in a great showing. Then you had Dr. Mark Faul who ground out 10.37% of the vote.

When you have all four candidates getting 10% or more of the votes that shows how unhappy the people of district one was. With only 8,013 votes cast this one was a wild card. Cooper has been in office 12 years and has not had any competition until this year and all three candidates were qualified to do replace her. This runoff is going to be interesting because Cooper has shown she is pro development and we do not quite know what we will be getting out of Turner. It will be interesting to see how many people want change or stick with the status quo down in South Hall County.

The winner of this race will win the seat as there is no Democratic Opponent

Hall County District 3

This race started out with four candidates. Swamp Fox, and disgraced former Planning Commissioner Stan Hunt, dropped out of the race and that really changed the dynamic of this district. The seat was left open because sitting District 3 Commissioner, Gregg Poole, decided to run for 9^th District US Congress against Andrew Clyde. After Stan left the race, this one was up for grabs from the get-go. You only had 351 votes between first and third place. This one was a nut-cutter.

You have Shannon Davidson and Tyler Crawford will face off in the runoff on June 16^th. Davidson got 32.08% of the vote (2,173 votes) and Crawford got 36.56% of the vote (2,476). Steve Gailey came in a close third place with 31.36% of the vote (2,124). Shannon won by 49 Votes.

Shannon is a sitting Planning Commissioner and businessman, Tyler is a local businessman, and Gailey is a retired environmental engineer and former District 3 commissioner. Both of the candidates in the runoff want to see a slowdown in the growth of District 3 and keep it under control. Unlike the other areas of the county. Right now, this race is expected to continue to be a tossup.

The winner of this race will meet independent Gina Pilcher in the fall General Election. Pilcher is a former Hall County Planning Commissioner. She still has to obtain, the roughly, 1,600 signatures to be on the ballot. She has until July 14^th to turn the signatures into the County Elections Office.

Hall County Board of Education At-Large

We also had another close race in the at-large post for the open board of education seat as sitting board member, Bill Thompson, decided not to seek reelection. This was a wild one that shocked us with Joe Anglin getting 44.28% of the vote. Political newcomer Susan Aycock Smith garnered 32.87% in a strong showing. Carla Baker ran a strong campaign as well and pulled in 22.85%. There were 20,785 votes cast in this county wide race.

Mr. Anglin did not come to many events or public debates, so no one knew what to expect from him. Everyone expected Baker and Smith to have a close battle as they both had many similar beliefs and ideas to fix the issues on the school board. Most were surprised when it ended up with Anglin carrying the most votes.

This runoff is still up in the air and could go either way. Anglin is a schoolteacher by trade and Smith used to teach at Gainesville College/University of North Georgia before moving into financial aid department before retiring a couple of years ago. The people want new blood and a possible new direction for the board of education. Now we just have to figure out who it will be.

The winner will head to a General Election opponent in Democrat Susan Martin Taylor who ran unopposed on the Democratic Ticket.

The other School Board seats were unopposed. They were Debra Smith and Brian Sloan. Smith won her current seat with no Democratic opponent. Sloan will meet Democrat Lorrie Jo Moore in the general election this fall.

This was a wild night in the local GOP elections and that should continue on June 16^th. Please keep an eye out for our podcasts with the candidates and analysis. Please follow us at our Facebook Group and Website as well. We are always reporting up to date local news.