UPDATED: Two local races headed to runoffs

Hall County voters will be asked to return to the polls June 18 to decide two local contests – County Commission chairman and State Court Judge.

In the commission race, incumbent Richard Higgins led a three-man field but did not get enough votes clinch the win. Higgins finished with 49.15% of the vote to 38.92 for David Gibbs. Former commissioner Craig Lutz came in third with 11.94%.

In the State Court judge’s race, Andy Maddox tallied 44.44% of the vote to 28.99% for second-place finisher Brian Heck. Trip Wingate III rounded out the three-man race with 26.57% of the vote. The winner will replace John Breakfield who bested Michelle Hall in the race for the Superior Court judgeship being vacated by the retiring Kathleen Gosselin.

Among other local contests, in the hotly-contested race for State Senator, Drew Echols outdistanced Josh Clark with 52.75% of the vote; Mark Petit sailed to victory over Chris Slate in the race for Clerk of Courts; and Sheriff Gerald Couch easily won the Republican nomination for another term but must face Democrat Jerry Ramos in the General Election in November.

There were two special city council elections on Tuesday’s ballot. In Gainesville, Abigail Guzman defeated Devin Pandy and in Lula, Chris Lewallen beat Felton Ward. Both were non-partisan races.

You’ll find more details on the local races here:

https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/GA/Hall/121256/web.317647/#/summary

And here you’ll find the results of every race in the state – congressional and state legislative. Also, all local races, county-by-county:

https://sos.ga.gov/page/georgia-election-results