Primary elections included the Georgia General Assembly raising two House of Representative district races and two State Senate races in Bartow. An additional House race Tuesday included a portion of Bartow with Jerry Nally, a Pine Log resident, unopposed on the Democratic ballot. He will face Republican incumbent Rick Jasperse in November
In House District 14, three prominent candidates vied for the Republican nomination. Greg Bowen, Christian Coomer and Shep Helton battled for the top spot. The Secretary of State had Shep Helton leading with 1,975 votes trailed closely by Christian Coomer with 1,970 and Greg Bowen with 1,056 votes with 83 percent of precincts reporting as of press time.
The numbers currently pointed toward a runoff election between Helton and Coomer.
"I wish we could have done it without a runoff but we're ready to go and excited about getting a win on this one in 20 days," Helton said. "Both of my opponents in this race worked extremely hard and I am quite satisfied that if anything, they will work harder from here on out and make me do the same."
Coomer, also applauded his opponents for a clean, issues-based race as he looks forward to a possible runoff.
"I'm excited about it. I think it's a good opportunity for the voters in Bartow County to take another, closer look at the candidates in the race and make a decision with even more information than they had today and get an opportunity to be even more educated than they were when they went into the ballot box today," Coomer said. "Everybody has done an excellent job to this point and I'm happy that we've had a race that has been free from personal attack or any kind of destructive rhetoric between the candidates and hopefully we will continue to stay issues focused and positive."
In the Democratic race, Dan Ledford led Jessica Weaver-Stoll with 534 votes to 501, respectively, with only 66 percent of precincts reporting from Floyd County, Weaver-Stoll's home county.
House District 15
The two-man race for District 15 between incumbent State Rep. Paul Battles, R-Cartersville, and opponent Hayden Collins secured the victor's place at the capitol due to a lack of opposition from other parties. Battles retained the nomination making him the next state representative for District 15. His name still will appear on the November ballot.
Battles collected 3,360 votes compared to 1,570 votes had by Collins with 99 percent of precincts reporting.
"I was disappointed in the number of people that cast votes today. I was hoping, especially since it was a gubernatorial primary, that the turnout would be greater but naturally winning in District 15, being able to go back representing this district again is exciting to me. And I appreciate those that are supporting me and for their confidence in voting me back in for another term and I look forward to working again in Atlanta for the interest of Bartow County," Battles said.
Senate District 52
Former State Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville, claimed the nomination over opponent Jeff Knight to face Democrat Mike Burton in the general election.
Loudermilk had 8,739 votes to Knight's 3,352 with 78 percent of precincts reporting.
"One of the key things we were looking at was Gordon County since the opponent was from there but we won -- barely won -- but won Gordon," Loudermilk said. "Our team is happy for this but there are some races out there we're concerned about, some friends and some colleagues. It's still a nail-biter on some of those so, like most election nights, it will probably be bittersweet."
State District 31
Incumbent Bill Heath, R-Bremen, retained a narrow lead over Pete Bridges with 97 percent of precincts reporting. Heath took 7,254 votes over Bridges' 6,849 votes to face Democrat Tracy Bennett in November.