This story was updated on Nov. 22 at 2:17 p.m.
Six races in DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties are heading to runoff elections, with early voting in late November and Election Day on Dec 3.
The runoffs come after no candidate received 50% of the vote in their respective races during the Nov. 5 general election.
In Atlanta, former educator Dr. Nicole “Nikki” Evans Jones and Atlanta Board of Education District 6 representative Eshé Collins will advance to the runoff for Atlanta City Council Post 3 At-Large seat.
The position has been vacated since March after Councilmember Keisha Waites stepped down to run for Fulton County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts. Waites lost in the May primary.
Roughly 39% of voters cast their ballots for Jones compared to Collins’ 25%. The other candidates who ran for the position — Amber Higgins Connor (15.2%), Devin Barrington Ward (13.7%) and Duvwon Robinson (6.5%) — will not advance to the runoff.
The winner of the Dec. 3 runoff will serve out the remainder of Waites’ term, which expires on Dec. 31, 2025.
In DeKalb County, two seats will go to the runoff as candidates run to replace Larry Johnson and Lorraine Cochran-Johnson, commissioners of District 3 and District 7 respectively. Both commissioners vacated their seats earlier this year to run for DeKalb County CEO, which Cochrane-Johnson won.
For the District 3 seat, Decatur native and entrepreneur Andrew Bell is campaigning against Nicole Massiah, an attorney and broker. In the Nov 5. election, Massiah saw a higher success with 42.3% of votes compared to Bell’s 23.8%. Candidates Tommy T. Travis and Jakequeline Walls will not advance into the runoff. They received 13.7% and 20.2% of the votes respectively.
For the District 7 seat, entrepreneur Jacqueline Adams received 46% of the overall vote compared to her opponent, Dr. LaDena Bolton, who secured 26.2%. Other candidates, Democrats Demetrius McCoy and Kenneth Chung Royal, received 19.4% and 8.4% of the votes respectively.
“I am incredibly grateful for your support that has propelled us to this moment,” Adams said in a recent social media post. “As we prepare for the upcoming runoff, we need all of you to show up to the polls one more time!”
“Let’s finish what we started, DeKalb,” Bolton said in an Instagram post regarding the runoff. “We’ve come this far, and we’re ready to go all the way. Thank you for everything, and let’s make this moment count.”
Doraville, a city located in DeKalb, will also be holding a runoff for the special election City Council District 1, Post 2 seat.
Former Doraville city council member Andy Yeoman received 41.1% of votes while his opponent, Secretary for the City Planning Commission Taylor Ray, received 33.2%.
Third candidate Billie Adams, who will not advance in December, had 25.7% of the ballots cast in his favor.
In the city of East Point, Shean Atkins and Jermaine Wright will face off to fill the East Point City Council Ward B seat that was vacated after Karen Rene resigned to run in an unsuccessful bid for Congress.
Atkins, a development consultant, received 30.8% of votes, placing closely second to Wright, an Army veteran and registered nurse, who secured 31.9% of the vote. Third and fourth place candidates Marie Terry (30%) and Stanley Elder (7.4%) will not advance into the runoff.
“While this first round was a huge step forward, the journey is far from over,” Atkins said in a social media post. “Let’s stay engaged and keep up the momentum.”
In Gwinnett County, City of Mulberry voters will choose between Doug Ingram and Michele Sims for the Disrict 5 seat on the city council. Ingram received 40.7% of the vote, followed by Sims with 34.0% and Kevin Arocha with 25.4%
All six elections will be held in their respective voting regions on Dec. 3 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Early voting in DeKalb and Fulton takes place Nov. 23-27. Early voting in Gwinnett — where the Mulberry City Council race is — takes place Nov. 25-27.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to include Doraville’s Nov. 5 general election results for its City Council District 1, Post 2 seat and the Mulberry City Council District 5 race.
Correction: A previous version of this story listed the Gwinnett County Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor race as going to a runoff, but the top two candidates with the most votes — Ellis Lamme and Matthew Ray Retter — advance to serve as supervisors. The story has been corrected to reflect this.
