Politics & Government
Athens-Clarke County Voters Turned Back By Oconee Voters
In state legislative races, Athens-Clarke County voters pick Democrats, but their votes are offset by votes in Oconee and other counties.
The clear majority of voters in Athens-Clarke County would like to be represented in the Georgia General Assembly in January by Democrats.
Nearly six in 10 of Athens-Clarke voters cast a ballot for Democrat Mokah Jasmine Johnson in the 117th House District, and two-thirds voted for Democrat Jonathan Wallace in the 119th House District. Both of these Districts are only partially in Athens-Clarke County.
No Republican came forward to challenge incumbent Democrat Spencer Frye in the 118th House District–the only state legislative district wholly inside Clarke County–so Frye got 100 percent of the recorded vote.
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Athens-Clarke County voters strongly preferred Democrat Zachary Perry in Senate District 46, giving him two-thirds of their votes, and Democrat Dawn Johnson in Senate District 47, giving her more than two-thirds of the vote. The two Senate Districts split Clarke County.
Despite the preferences of Athens-Clarke County voters for Democrats, after last Tuesday’s elections, they will be represented by Republicans Houston Gaines in the 117th House District, Marcus Wiedower in the 119th House District, and Bill Cowsert in the 46th Senate District.
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This is because the preferences of Republican voters in Oconee and other counties outweighed those of Democratic voters in Clarke County.
More than seven in 10 of Oconee County voters, for example, preferred incumbents Gaines in the 117th House District, Wiedower in the 119th House District, and Cowsert in Senate District 46.
Oconee County is not part of the 47th Senate District, but voters outside Clarke County voted–against the wishes of Clarke County voters--to re-elect incumbent Republican Frank Ginn to represent that District as well.
The Georgia General Assembly, controlled by Republicans, created the existing legislative districts in 2011 that dilute the influence of Athens-Clarke County and increase the influence of Oconee County and other counties surrounding Clarke.
The outcomes of the elections on Tuesday nearly guarantee that will not change when the General Assembly, again controlled by Republicans, takes up the task of redistricting following the release of data from the 2020 Census.
For more on this story, please click through to Oconee County Observations.