Voters Approve Taylor, Cagle
Jasper voters Tuesday joined those across the state to give Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor a narrow majority to be Gov. Sonny Perdue’s Democratic challenger in November and in handing state Sen. Casey Cagle a clear victory as the Republican nominee to succeed Mr. Taylor.
With Jasper’s returns closely mirroring statewide results in most races, voters set the stage for runoffs in both parties for the secretary of state’s office being vacated by Cathy Cox who lost in her gubernatorial bid to Mr. Taylor, and for the Democratic nominee to face Mr. Cagle, winner over Ralph Reed in a high profile race.
Former legislators Jim Martin and Greg Hecht will vie for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor after Mr. Martin garnered 41 percent of the vote statewide to Mr. Hecht’s 36 percent, with three other primary contenders eliminated.
Voters who cast ballots in Tuesday’s primaries can vote only in the same party’s runoff on Aug. 5; those who didn’t vote Tuesday may vote in either runoff.
In the Democratic race for secretary of state Gail Buckner let the ticket with 25 percent of the vote to 22 percent for Darryl Hicks, putting them in a runoff and leaving three other contenders by the wayside. Karen Handel led the GOP ticket with 43 percent of the statewide vote, followed by Bill Stephens with 33 percent to set up that runoff.
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Republicans also will have a runoff in the race to face veteran incumbent Tommy Irvin as secretary of Agriculture. Though Gary Black received 53 percent of Jasper’s vote, he managed only 42 percent statewide and will face Brian Kemp in a runoff.
In other contested down ballot races winners in Jasper, as reflected in the tables on pages 6 and 7, also won statewide by comparable margins. In addition to the races emerging from the primary for the November general elections there are several of local interest involving candidates who were unopposed in the primaries.
Mac Collins, easy winner in the Republican primary to become Jasper’s congressman, faces incumbent Jim Marshall. State Sen. Johnny Grant and state Rep. Jim Cole, both Republicans, face Democrats Bruce Gilbert and Curtis Jenkins, respectively.
U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, who currently represents Jasper, will face Democrat Mike McGraw in November in the Third Congressional District, which has been changed to exclude Jasper. Elsewhere, fiery Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, whose district once included Jasper, surprisingly finds herself in a Democratic runoff with Henry C. “Hank” Johnson in the Fourth Congressional District.
A paltry 20 percent of Jasper’s eligible voters turned out for Tuesday’s primaries, but that was higher than many had predicted both locally and statewide. Mark Taylor fell a fraction short of 50 percent locally, but statewide he tallied about 52 percent to win without a runoff.
Late Tuesday Ms. Cox went on the air with an eloquent concession speech, and Mr. Taylor thundered his promise of a vigorous campaign to unseat Gov. Perdue.
