On Tuesday, November 7th, voters in Metro Atlanta took to the polls to elect their leaders and chart the path of their respective municipality’s future. For the first time in DeKalb County’s history, a SPLOST referendum was on the ballot which the voters passed with overwhelming support. Keisha Lance Bottoms and Mary Norwood will be headed to a December 5th run-off for the Atlanta Mayoral seat, as will the Atlanta City Council President’s seat between Alex Wan and Felicia Moore. The 6th Senate District seat, vacated by Hunter Hill in his bid for the Governor’s Office in 2018, is also headed to a run-off between Democrats Jen Jordan and Jaha Howard.
The cities of Forest Park (Angelyne Butler), Cumming (Troy Brumbalow), Loganville (Rey Martinez), Stockbridge (Anthony S. Ford) will all bring in new Mayors, while Woodstock Mayor Donnie Henriques, Chamblee Mayor Eric Clarkson, Clarkston Mayor Ted Terry, Milton Mayor Joe Lockwood, Hampton Mayor Steve Hutchison, and McDonough Mayor Billy Copeland all held off challengers to continue another term in office. The mayoral races in the City of Atlanta, East Point, and Roswell will be decided in a run-off election on December 5th.
Additionally, DeKalb County voters overwhelmingly supported transportation and special project funding by passing the County’s first ever SPLOST and E-HOST with 70% of the vote, expected to bring in over $630 million over six years. Likewise, Cherokee County voters with 79% of the vote in favor, will extend the County’s SPLOST another six years and bring in $252 million in estimated special projects funding. This is a great outcome for DeKalb and Cherokee and the Council for Quality Growth commends the voters for bringing additional project funding to their counties.
A number of new councilmembers will be sworn-in this coming January, including in the cities of Atlanta, Canton, Woodstock, Forest Park, Morrow, Austell, Kennesaw, Marietta, Powder Springs, Clarkston, Doraville, Dunwoody, Stone Mountain, Tucker, Cumming, Alpharetta, College Park, East Point, Hapeville, Milton, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Braselton, Dacula, Duluth, Grayson, Norcross, and Sugar Hill. Many other city council and county commission races are heading to run-offs on December 5th.
The Council for Quality Growth commends all those who were elected and re-elected to serve and thanks all of those who have served and will be moving on to new endeavors. Please see here for Metro Atlanta’s complete results.