The Blackest city in America elected its first female mayor on Tuesday.
South Fulton City Council member Carmalitha Gumbs will become the city’s latest mayor in January after defeating her runoff election opponent, Mark Baker, by a sizable margin, according to unofficial vote totals.
More than 13,400 people cast ballots in the contest, according to the Fulton County Board of Elections’ website. Gumbs received just shy of 60% of votes cast in the race as of Wednesday morning, with 100% of precincts reporting. Baker received just over 40% of the vote.
Gumbs is set to become South Fulton’s third mayor. The tenure of her predecessor, outgoing South Fulton Mayor khalid “Kobi” kamau, was marred by corruption scandals.
Gumbs expressed a desire to turn the page on kamau’s controversial chapter, which some South Fulton residents say hurt their city’s reputation. She rebuffed questions about a November ethics complaint accusing her of not properly disclosing campaign contributions and voting on a City Council zoning issue involving people who may have donated to her campaign.
“We are in a time that we are going to heal,” Gumbs told Capital B Atlanta during a Tuesday evening phone interview following a poll watch party at Sugahplum Events in Fairburn. “We’ll move this city forward again. [kamau’s time in office] was very challenging and our city, it was divided. But at the end of the day, I am the mayor for everyone here in the city of South Fulton, and it’s [time to] heal and move forward.”
Gumbs’ victory highlighted a night of noteworthy mayoral runoff races across metro Atlanta.
East Point
Communications consultant Keisha Chapman defeated City Council member Joshua Butler in the race to become the next mayor of East Point.
Chapman received 64% of the more than 3,000 unofficial votes cast in the race, with 100% of precincts reporting. Butler gained just under 36% of the vote, according to the Fulton County Elections website.
Sandy Springs
Three-term incumbent Republican Mayor Rusty Paul cruised to victory over his Democratic challenger, Dontaye Carter, the founder of the Carter Media Group who previously served as chair of the North Fulton Democrats.
Paul received more than 69% of the roughly 14,800 votes cast, while Carter gained just 30.73%. The former Georgia Republican Party chair credited his victory to a segment of Democratic voters in Sandy Springs casting ballots for him instead of a fellow Democrat. That support came after an endorsement from Democratic state Rep. Esther Panitch, D-Sandy Springs, due to Paul’s allegedly more-vocal stance against antisemitism.
Panitch is the only Jewish member of the Georgia General Assembly, where GOP leaders have voiced concerns and passed a related law about rising antisemitism stemming from the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war.
“Mayor Paul has consistently stood with the Jewish community,” Panitch wrote on Facebook on Nov. 19. “He has specifically acknowledged antisemitism when our community has been targeted. He understands that leadership means having the moral courage to name the threats facing specific communities, not papering over them with generalities.”
Atlanta City Council District 11
Endorsements from Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and City Council President-elect Marci Collier Overstreet helped Wayne Martin win a landslide victory in his District 11 Atlanta City Council runoff against attorney Nate Jester.
Martin received nearly 58% of the more than 3,700 votes cast in the contest to Jester’s roughly 42%. He thanked those who voted for him Tuesday night and extended an olive branch to those who didn’t.
“We’re one district,” Martin told Capital B Atlanta over the phone during an election night watch party at the OMG! That’s Good! restaurant in the city’s Campbellton Road neighborhood. “I don’t feel like we’re divided in any way. We may have some differences on how we get there, but we all love our community and we want to get there.”
Martin said his top priority upon taking office will be attracting new investments in neighborhoods like Campbellton Road, noting the $5 billion neighborhood reinvestment initiative that Dickens unveiled on Sept. 30.
“Campbellton Road, at one point, was one of the most vibrant thoroughfares in all of the city of Atlanta, and over the years, it has been sort of disinvested,” Martin said. “With the mayor’s plan to bring investment here … [we’re] starting to lean into those projects and those initiatives and ideas to figure out what we can make shovel-ready as soon as possible so that we can begin to lift Campbellton Road.”
Atlanta City Council District 7
Attorney and health care executive Thomas Worthy defeated Thad Flowers in their Atlanta City Council District 7 matchup on Tuesday.
Worthy received more than 59% of the 2,645 votes cast in the race. Flowers received just 40.68% of the vote.
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