Oconee County Republicans Maintain Strong Advantage Across The Board In Tuesday Races

***Incumbent Legislators Hold Seats***

Oconee County Republicans gave little ground in the elections on Tuesday, holding at 70 percent of the vote in most of the national, state and local elections.

Donald Trump got 65.9 percent of the vote in the county, down from 67.4 four years ago. And Joseph Biden got 32.4 percent of the vote, up from the 28.0 percent of Hillary Clinton in 2016.

But Oconee County gave 72.2 percent of its vote to incumbent Republican Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell, 71.6 percent of its vote to incumbent Republican Tim Burgess in the race for Post 4 on the Board of Education, and 70.4 to Republican Michael Ransom in the Board of Education Post 5 race.

County voters split their vote between two Republicans in the special election for Board of Commissioners Post 3, but winner Amrey Harden, received 52.7 percent of the vote and Aaron Nowak got 21.0 percent. Democratic challenger Jacob Doulliez got 26.3 percent of the vote.

The only Democrat to nearly make it to 30 percent in a county race was Joan Parker in the Post 5 Board of Education race. Parker got 29.6 percent of the voter.

In the U.S. Senate race against Republican incumbent David Perdue, Democrat John Ossoff got 29.7 percent of the vote.

In the special election to file the term of Johnny Isakson, who stepped down at the end of the last year, Democrat Raphael Warnock got 21.9 percent of the vote, trailing Republican Kelly Loeffler, who is the incumbent, with 39.8 percent of the voter, and Doug Collins with 24.8 percent of the vote.

Oconee County voters gave more than 70 percent of their vote to incumbent Sen. Bill Cowsert in the 46th Senate District, incumbent Rep. Houston Gaines in the 117th House District, and incumbent Rep. Marcus Wiedower in the 119th. 

All won their races when tallies from the other counties in their districts were included.

Oconee County voters gave more than 70 percent of their vote to incumbent Republican Jody Hice in the 10th U.S. Congressional District and just under 70 percent of their vote to the two Republican incumbent Public Service Commissioners.

In the Special Election for District Attorney, Oconee County voters gave 60 percent of their vote to James Chafin, running without a party label, rather than vote for Democrats Deborah Gonzalez or Brian Patterson.

Gonzalez and Chafin will advance to a runoff in that race based on results from Clarke County, which joins Oconee County in the Western Judicial Circuit.

County voters strongly approved a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, and Watkinsville voters picked Brett Thomas, incumbent Christine Tucker, and Jeff Campbell in the three non-partisan Council races.

Mayor Bob’s Smith’s two endorsed candidates did poorly in the contest.

Trump ran strong across the county, but his vote totals were lowest in City Hall and East Oconee precincts and best in Dark Corner and Antioch.

Turnout at 84.4 percent was just lower than the 85.1 percent in 2016.

Click on any of the charts to enlarge it.