Paris to return to state Legislature

Miriam Paris is set to head to the state House in January to represent Macon-Bibb’s House District 142.

Paris closed Tuesday night with 2,923 votes, or 54.5 percent of the total. Her fellow Democrat, Gerald Harvey, had 2,445 votes.

Just after the county election board published those numbers, Paris said, “I’m very thankful. I’m grateful for our numbers and grateful to all our supporters. I’m ready to get back to work for Bibb County.”

The tally means a return to the state Legislature for her. She was elected to the state Senate in a 2011 special election, but she lost a 2012 re-election bid. Paris was also a member and president of the former Macon City Council.

Harvey, however, said he is concerned about the 844 votes tallied for Frank Austin, a third Democratic candidate. The state disqualified Austin last month after an administrative law judge found that Austin has not lived in the district long enough to run for the House District 142 seat. The state’s top election office said it was too late to print ballots without Austin’s name, so votes for that candidate would not count.

“I think the board of elections did very little to inform the public of what was going on there,” said Harvey. “Eight hundred people don’t throw their vote away.” Harvey said he plans to speak to an election attorney Wednesday. If Austin’s votes had counted, Paris would not have won a majority of votes and a runoff would have been necessary.

But it appears the third time was not the charm for Harvey, who tried for the state House in 2014 and 2012. He’s also a veteran of the old city council.

No Republican or independent signed up to run in the district.

The seat came open when incumbent Democratic state Rep. Nikki Randall announced earlier this year that she was retiring from office. She also endorsed Paris’ campaign.

It looks like fundraising started slowly in the race. The last campaign finance documents that were due showed Paris raising about $4,000 and Harvey raising almost $2,500 through the end of March.

Baldwin and Putnam

Tuesday’s voting knocked three contenders out of the field of six fighting for the state House District 145 seat, which covers all of Baldwin County and part of Putnam County. The ultimate outcome could make a big difference in key state House votes if the seat now held by an independent is taken by a partisan candidate.

Floyd Griffin Jr, who is a former state senator and former mayor of Milledgeveille, took 64.9 percent of the votes, according to Tuesday night’s final but unofficial results. He easily bested the other two Democrats in race, former mayor of Eatonton John Reid and Baldwin County school board veteran Harold B. Simmons. Reid and Simmons won 14.6 percent and 20.6 percent of the vote respectively.

“I’ve been doing this stuff for over two decades, and I have a strong support base here in Baldwin County and I have a very good staff,” Griffin said just after the votes were counted. He said he thinks the general election will be a tough race.

On the GOP side, Rick Williams, a former Baldwin County commissioner and former chief registrar for the county, took 68.4 percent of the votes, beating first-time candidate Tom Glover.

Williams said his team will hit the ground running on Wednesday, and he thanked Glover for a good race. He said he attributes his win to his long history in Baldwin County as a resident, a public official and a funeral director.

So Griffin and Williams are set for a three-corner fight with incumbent state Rep. Rusty Kidd, an independent, in the November general election.

Kidd is the only independent in the House. But both Democrats and Republicans would like to have one of their own partisans in the seat. The GOP has nearly a two-thirds House supermajority, enough to set up public votes on major changes to the Georgia Constitution. Both Democrats and Republicans have their rebels who don’t always vote with the party, but a new lawmaker with party ties one way or the other could make a difference when votes come down to a handful of waverers.

Kidd has the most well-financed campaign. Incumbent cash rolls over from election to election, and Kidd reported almost $15,000 cash in hand at the end of March. (As a sitting lawmaker, he was banned from raising money during most of the first quarter.)

Only Williams broke the five-figure mark among other candidates as of March 31. He reported having collected nearly $14,000.

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 11:41 PM with the headline "Paris to return to state Legislature."