With 99 percent of precincts reporting in Bartow and Floyd counties, unofficial results showed Coomer earning 2,368 to Helton’s 2,237. Locally, Helton pulled 1,629 Bartow voters to Coomer’s 1,499, while affected precincts in Floyd gave Coomer 869 ballots to Helton’s 608.
Coomer now advances to November’s general election to face Democrat Dan Ledford.
Statewide, the GOP’s top race was too close to call at 10 p.m., but with 84 percent of precincts reporting, Nathan Deal’s 279,334 votes gave him 50.4 percent of the ballots in the faceoff against Karen Handel. In Bartow, 53.2 percent of Republican voters favored Deal.
Former State Sen. Preston Smith, R-Rome, whose District 52 seat included part of Bartow County, was unable to knock off Sam Olens for the GOP’s attorney general nomination. With 86 percent of precincts reporting, Olens had 58.5 percent of the statewide vote and will now move on to face Democrat Ken Hodges in the general election.
In the GOP’s race for Public Service Commissioner District 2, the Associated Press declared Tim Echols the winner over John Douglas just before 10 p.m. Keith Moffett will be the Echols’ Democratic opposition in the general election.
The AP also called several other elections just before the clock struck 10. GOP voters picked State Sen. Ralph Hudgens as their nominee for the open insurance commissioner seat over Maria Sheffield, while Democrats chose State Rep. Georganna Sinkfield over Gail Buckner to challenge Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp in November for a term as the state’s top election official.
See Wednesday’s edition of The Daily Tribune News for further coverage.
— Some information from the Associated Press was used in this report.