The special election to decide the next state lawmaker from Georgia Senate district 35 is headed to a runoff.
Democrats Jaha Howard — a dentist from Smyrna — and former state Rep. Roger Bruce, who retired from the state House earlier this year, were the top two vote recipients on election night in a field of six candidates. But neither captured the 51% of the vote needed to win.
Howard came in first with 32.63% of the unofficial vote total and 100% of precincts reporting, according to the Georgia secretary of state’s website. Bruce came in second with 25.37% of the vote. Republican candidate Josh Tolbert, a mechanical engineer also from Smyrna, came in third with 17.57% of the vote.
Howard couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday morning. He celebrated his performance on social media Tuesday night.
“God just keeps showing out!!” Howard wrote in the caption of a video posted on his Instagram and Facebook pages.
The runoff election is scheduled to take place on Dec. 16. Only voters who live in District 35, which includes parts of Fulton, Cobb and Douglas counties, will be allowed to cast ballots.
Whoever wins will represent the interests of nearly 200,000 people, 70% of whom are Black, in the Georgia General Assembly beginning in January. They’ll also face potential primary challenges in May ahead of a decisive midterm election matchup next fall.
Bruce, 72, served 22 years inside the Gold Dome before announcing his retirement earlier this year. He told Capital B Atlanta last week that he’s running as a transitional candidate who only wants to fill the remainder of Esteves’ term and won’t seek reelection during the fall.
“I wanted to make sure the voters had time to vet the candidates, make sure they’re picking somebody that knows what they’re doing,” Bruce said. “It’s not my intent to stay there for a long period of time.”
Howard is a former Cobb County School Board member who wants to give tax breaks to small-business owners who pay state taxes on time, increase access to quality health care, and limit the ability for major companies to buy up single-family homes and convert them into rental properties, according to his campaign website.
“We are going to hold the predatory third-parties accountable for keeping rents artificially high,” Howard’s website reads. “We are going to help responsible developers with tax breaks.”
The other candidates in the race were small-business owner John D. Williams; Georgia Army National Guard veteran Corenza Morris, who ran as an independent; and former journalist Erica-Denise Solomon.
Read More:
- Why Jason Esteves Puts Georgia’s Housing Crisis at the Center of the Governor’s Race
- Black Community in South Fulton Fights Georgia’s Data Center Boom
This story has been updated.
