ATLANTA — General elections held on Tues., Nov. 2, resulted in 10 races advancing to a runoff election on Nov. 30. Early voting for Atlantans will begin Nov. 17 and run through Nov. 24 in both DeKalb and Fulton counties from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Voters who wish to vote absentee will need to request their ballots by Nov. 19.
Georgia voters can find their local voting locations and sample ballots at www.mvp.sos.ga.gov, or visit the Fulton and DeKalb elections websites for information on early voting locations as well as updates or changes.
Results and runoff election contenders are listed below.
TSPLOST and ESPLOST
Fulton County voters outside of the City of Atlanta voted to support the $0.75 Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, TSPLOST. Money generated from the tax will support transportation infrastructure projects across Fulton County. Voters in Atlanta, Fulton, and DeKalb counties all voted to approve the $0.01 Education-Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, ESPLOST. Funds for the ESPLOST are collected from all retail purchases in their respective school districts and used for capital projects such as new facilities, furnishings, or school technology.
Atlanta Municipal Court Judges
During the general election, All eight municipal court judges were retained in the yes or no vote. The judges retained are JaDawnya Baker, Ardra Bey, Crystal Gaines, Calvin Graves, Terrinee Gundy, Gary Jackson, Christopher Portis, and Christopher Ward.
Atlanta Board of Education
Katie Howard (District 1), Jennifer McDonald (District 4), Erika Mitchell (District 5), Eshé Collins (District 6), Cynthia Briscoe Brown in District 8 At-Large, and Jason Esteves in District 9 At-Large were elected to the school board in the general election. All except Jennifer McDonald and Katie Howard are incumbents returning for another term. Incumbent Michelle Olympiadis ran unopposed for the District 3 seat. Incumbent Aretta Baldon and returning candidate Keisha Carey will seek election in the District 2 runoff. Carey lost both the 2017 and 2019 elections. Newcomers Tamara Jones and Kacey Venning will seek election in the District 7 At-Large runoff. Jones is an APS parent, and Venning is an author and nonprofit founder.
City Council
The general elections for Atlanta City Council resulted in incumbents Michael Julian Bond, Matt Westmoreland, Amir Farokhi, Howard Shook, Dustin Hillis, Andrea Boone, and Marci Collier Overstreet reclaiming their seats, as well as the return of two council members Alex Wan in District 6 and Mary Norwood. Norwood, who held the Post 2 At-Large seat for multiple terms and lost the 2009 and 2017 mayoral races, ran unopposed to win the District 8 seat.
Six candidates vied for the District 1 seat in the general election after Carla Smith announced that she would not be running for re-election. The general election resulted in a runoff between state auditor Nathan Clubb and business owner Jason Winston. The District 3 runoff will be between former Atlanta Board of Education member Byron Amos and Certified Public Account Erika Estrada. The seat is currently held by Antonio Brown, who didn’t seek re-election to run for mayor. Finally, Liliana Bakhtiari and Mandy Mahoney will seek election in a runoff for what was formerly Natalyn Archibong’s District 5 seat. Bakhtiari ran in the 2017 District 5 general election but lost to Natalyn Archibong.
Jason Dozier, a nonprofit director, will challenge incumbent Cleta Winslow in the District 4 runoff. Dozier previously ran in the 2017 District 4 general election but lost in the runoff against Winslow. Local labor organizer Antonio Lewis will challenge incumbent Joyce Sheperd of District 12. Winslow and Sheperd have been on the city council since 1994 and 2004, respectively. The Post 3 At-Large race to fill Andre Dickens’ seat is between Keisha Sean Waites and Jacki Labat to round out the city council runoffs. Waites is a former member of the Georgia House of Representatives. Labat is the wife of current Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat.
Atlanta City Council President
Former president and CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center, Doug Shipman, and current District 5 city Councilwoman Natalyn Archibong are on the ballot for the council president runoff.
Atlanta Mayor
Early this year, the general election of the 61st Mayor of Atlanta looked to become a face-off between current Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and current Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore. In early May, Mayor Bottoms announced she would not seek reelection. Bottoms’ withdrawal effectively opened the floodgates for a field of 16 very different candidates in the general election. Many predicted a runoff that would include former mayor Kasim Reed. Atlanta voters instead handed more votes to current Post 3 At-Large City Councilman Andre Dickens. Dickens will challenge Council President Moore in the runoff election.