Barr, Loudermilk Headed for Runoff; Sweeney Retains BOE Seat

Tuesday’s primary saw U.S. Rep. Bob Barr and former state Sen. Barry Loudermilk advance to a July 22 runoff to succeed Phil Gingrey as 11th District Congressman.

Loudermilk, of Cartersville, garnered 36.51 percent of the vote in the six-person Republican primary with Barr, of Smyrna, winning 25.80 percent of the vote. They were followed by Tricia Pridemore at 17.06 percent and Ed Lindsey at 14.83 percent.

With no Democratic candidates, the winner of the runoff will take the seat. The district stretches from Buckhead northwest through Cobb County and into Bartow and Cherokee counties.

Gingrey finished a distant fourth in his bid to gain entry into a Republican runoff for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Saxby Chambliss. See more from that race here. And see here for results of all Cobb races.

There will also be a runoff for the Cobb Commission District 1 seat in Northwest Cobb, where former county chairman Bill Byrne had 28.38 percent of the vote, followed by former Acworth Alderman Bob Weatherford with 24.40 percent.

They were followed by Angela Barner (21.97) and Scott Tucker (19.14) in the five-person GOP primary for the seat being vacated by retiring Commissioner Helen Goreham. The winner will face Democrat Derrick Crump in November’s general election.

District 3 incumbent JoAnn Birrell easily won re-election in the three-person GOP primary with 62.63 percent of the vote. No Democrats ran for the District 3 seat.

There will also be a runoff in Acworth for the Post 3 Alderman seat that Weatherford stepped down from this year in order to run for a spot on the county commission. On Tuesday, Kevin Wigington garnered 41.73 percent of the vote (540 votes), and will face Brett North (40.11 percent, 519 votes) in the July runoff. Patrick Looney was third with 235 votes in the city that has 10,567 active registered voters.

North is a member of the city planning and zoning board, while Wigington is an officer on the Acworth Historic Preservation Commission.

In the Cobb school board races, Republican incumbent Scott Sweeney won a tight race over Kevin Nicholas. Sweeney won 51.66 percent of the vote to 48.34 percent for Nicholas in the race for the seat in east Cobb’s Post 6.

In the race to take the seat of Post 4 member Kathleen Angelucci, who represents north Cobb and did not seek re-election, Lockheed Martin analyst David Chastain garnered 66.27 percent of the vote to top former Marietta Sixth Grade Academy Principal Bill Scott (33.73 percent).

No Democrats were running in the race for either post.

In the Republican race for Post 2, incumbent Tim Stultz finished behind former Pebblebrook High School Principal Susan Thayer in the three-person race. Thayer (45.13 percent of the vote) and Stultz (33.75) finished ahead of Jeff Abel (21.12) and will meet again in the July runoff.

The winner will face Democrat Kenya Pierre during the Nov. 4 general election for the seat that represents the Smyrna-Vinings area.

U.S. Rep. David Scott easily defeated his Democratic challenger, and is virtually assured to continue representing Georgia’s 13th Congressional District, which covers southwestern portions of metro Atlanta.

State Sen. Steve Thompson (D-Marietta) was defeated by Marietta Democrat Michael Rhett. 

And while state representatives such as Don Parsons (R-north central Cobb), Rep. David Wilkerson (D-Austell) and Sen. Horacena Tate (D-Atlanta) all retained their seats, Charles Gregory (R-Kennesaw) was defeated by Marietta lawyer Bert Reeves during the Republican primary.

Austell Democrat Erica Thomas won the primary for the open seat of state representative of District 39. See more here.