Has Henry County turned blue? This week’s election numbers suggest the answer is yes.
Four years after seeing more Democrat than Republican votes for the first time in two decades, the county’s election office handled more than 51,000 ballots in the 2020 primary and Democrat ballots outnumbered Republican ballots by a 2-to-1 margin.
In the 2012 primary, more than 70 percent of Henry County voters cast Republican ballots. Republicans continued to outnumber Democrats through the 2016 primary, and it wasn’t until the 2016 general election that more overall votes went to Democrats.
As for last week’s races, the home page of the county website indicated that the state of Georgia was handling the announcement of results, with a link to a separate website provided. The information contained in this story came from that website.
A total of 34,282 votes were cast for one of the dozen or so presidential candidates on the Democrat ballot, with nearly 90 percent choosing former vice president Joe Biden. On the GOP side, 17,386 ballots were submitted solely in support of President Donald Trump.
Most of the other races on Henry County ballots were divided by congressional, legislative or commission/school board district. A handful were for countywide offices, but most were uncontested.
The most crowded field by far was the sheriff’s race. Jack Redlinger emerged from the Republican primary as the clear winner over two primary opponents, while Reginald Scandrett and Tony Brown prevailed as the top two out of seven Democrat challengers to force a runoff. One of these three men will succeed retiring sheriff Keith McBrayer.
Longtime Superior Court clerk Barbara Harrison won her Republican primary with no opposition, while Sabrina Hill bested Vanessa Thomas on the Democrat side. Coroner Donald Cleveland’s only opposition came from Democrat primary challenger Joe Mack Eckler, and Cleveland took nearly three-fourths of the vote.
In a non-partisan race to keep her seat on the Superior Court bench, Holly Veal defeated Loletha Hale by more than 20 points, garnering nearly 64 percent of ballots cast. Trea Pipkin was the only person on the ballot for his former Superior Court judgeship, although he was appointed in March to the Georgia Court of Appeals.
Several incumbents are unopposed through this year’s election, including district attorney Darius Pattillo and tax commissioner Michael Harris, both of whom are running as Democrats. The same is true for a few nonpartisan candidates such as State Court judge Pandora Palmer, solicitor general Pamela Bettis, and Probate Court judge Kelley Powell – who received more votes than any Henry County candidate in any race (51,628).
There was no change in the race for countrywide chair of the Board of Commissioners, as Republican incumbent June Wood and Democrat challenger Carlotta Harrell were both unopposed in the primary. Harrell received nearly twice as many votes as Wood.
Incumbent District 1 commissioner Johnny Wilson is unopposed all year, while Dee Clemmons cleared the first hurdle toward re-election in District 2. She got 61 percent of the vote against Democrat challengers Devlin Cleveland and Tina Marie Coria, allowing her to avoid a runoff and focus on the November race against Republican Steve Richardson.
Three seats on the Henry County Board of Education are up for grabs, with the nonpartisan races being decided during primary season. Two incumbents won handily last week: Pam Nutt in District 1 and Holly Carter Cobb In District 3. Each received more than 60 percent of the vote against a single challenger.
The District 2 race was a bit more crowded, with three candidates challenging current school board chair Josh Hinton. Makenzie McDaniel got 23 percent of the vote to earn a spot in the runoff against Hinton, who tallied just over 45 percent.
