Republicans Carry Oconee, But Democrats Gain Ground From November

Republican U.S. Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler won Oconee County in unofficial but complete election returns Tuesday, but the percentage of the votes the two received were less than a point higher than the percentages their party candidates received in November.

In contrast, Democrat Jon Ossoff increased his percent of the Oconee County vote in the race with Perdue from 29.7 to 31.1, and Democrat Raphael Warnock in the race with Loeffler received 31.8 percent of the vote on Tuesday compared with the 30.2 percent figure for all Democrats in the special election on Nov. 3.

Turnout in Oconee County on Tuesday was heavy for a runoff--at 77.4 percent of the 30,444 active registered voters–but down from the 84.5 percent turnout of the 30,071 active voters in November.

The candidates had 373 more potential voters because of increased registration before early voting in December.

In the end, Perdue got 891 fewer votes in Oconee County on Tuesday than he got on Nov. 3, while Ossoff got 145 fewer votes.

Loeffler got 809 fewer votes than Republican candidates did in the county in November, while Warnock got only 36 fewer votes than did all of the Democrats in the special election in November.

In the runoff for Public Service Commissioner, Republican incumbent Lauren Bubba McDonald received 71.0 percent of the Oconee County vote on Tuesday, up from 69.1 on Nov. 3 and Democrat Daniel Blackman got 29.0 percent of the vote, up from 27.6 percent in November voting.

For more on the story, with a summary chart showing findings for the county, please go to Oconee County Observations.