Kelsee Brady, Campus Carrier Staff Writer
Claire Voltarel, Campus Carrier News Editor
On Tuesday, Nov. 6, the midterm elections took place, many of which did not result in a clear winner the next day, such as the Georgia governor’s race. The night before showed a tight race, between Republican Candidate Brian Kemp and Democrat Candidate Stacey Abrams, both close to 50 percent. By morning, the results were too close to call. After Abrams, unwilling to concede and votes were recounted, Kemp was named governor about two weeks later.
Junior political science major Ryan Moran found the gubernatorial race intriguing despite the fact that he voted in the North Carolina midterm election.
“It felt like a smaller version of the 2016 Presidential election,” Moran said. “I was impressed that it was as close as it was. For Georgia, I wasn’t really expecting it to even come close to a runoff, that it took almost two weeks for them to actually call it in a direction or the other was surprising.”
The Kemp versus Abrams race was not the only unique factor in this midterm election. Voter turnout was higher than most midterm elections in Georgia according to Associate Professor of Government Michael Bailey. Bailey watched the election closely on election night and found the number to be shockingly high.
“I was surprised by the voter turnout in Georgia. It was about 55 percent,” Bailey said. “Typically, midterm elections are 10, 20, 30 points less than that- much closer to the 40 or lower range.”
This voter turnout resulted in a Democratic win of control over the House of Representatives, and a near majority over the Senate with only six more Republicans than Democrats.
Additionally, the race for Secretary of State and Public Service Commissioner also ended undecided, and will have a runoff vote on Tuesday. The candidates for Secretary of State are Democrat John Barrow and Republican Brad Raffensperger.
Junior public relations major Bailey Dingley shared the circumstances that led to the Secretary of State and Public Service Commissioner runoff election.
“While one technically was over the other, neither of them got the votes,” Dingley said. “Now that we’ve thrown out the independent and libertarian, they can redo this.”
The Public Service Commissioner for District Three, made up of Fulton, Dekalb, Clayton, and Rockdale counties, will also be decided in a runoff election with incumbent Republican Chuck Eaton and Democrat Lindy Miller.
The official results for Lieutenant Governor was Republican Geoff Duncan over Democrat Sarah Riggs Amico, and the Incumbent Republican Chris Carr was re-elected as Attorney General.
