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Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009

Runoff coming in House District 141 race

Rusty Kidd easily outdistanced three other candidates in Tuesday’s special election to represent the Milledgeville area in the Georgia House of Representatives, but he’ll have win in a runoff to take the seat.

It appears that runoff, scheduled for Dec. 1, will be against Darrell Black, a local business owner who tallied 1,286 votes to Kidd’s 2,433. A candidate must win more than 50 percent of a vote to be elected, and Kidd just topped 44 percent, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.

Local development official Angela Gheesling-McCommon tallied 1,270 votes, which is close enough to Black’s total to trigger a recount if she requests one. The Telegraph’s attempts to reach her Tuesday night were not successful.

There is also the matter of potential provisional and military absentee ballots, which can arrive as late as Friday and be counted. Baldwin County Election Superintendent Todd Blackwell said he didn’t think there would be enough of those to change the election outcome, but that won’t be finalized until later this week, when the election is certified.

Kidd and Black both said they’d expected a runoff. Four candidates had sought to replace Bobby Parham in Milledgeville’s District 141 after he retired to take a seat on the state Transportation Board. Given traditionally low turnout in runoffs, Black said this election will be decided by who can get his voters — and voters who supported other candidates — back to the polls.

“I’m a little disappointed with our numbers, ...” Black said. “I guess we’ve just got to work harder.”

Kidd said he’ll keep talking about job creation for Milledgeville’s struggling economy and that he “will not get in the gutter and mudsling like some of the others have been doing.”