Democrat Wins House District 80 Runoff

Sign up for the Sandy Springs Patch newsletter!

---

State election results show Democrat Taylor Bennett is leading Republican Mayor J. Max Davis with a less than 500-vote margin in the runoff for the House District 80 seat.

Unofficial results from the Georgia Secretary of State’s website show Bennett with 54 percent, or 2,714 votes, compared to Davis’s 46 percent or, 2,263 votes.

Davis is the former Brookhaven mayor who resigned to run for the seat. Bennett is a lawyer whose practice is based in Brookhaven.

The seat, which covers Brookhaven and parts of Sandy Springs and Chamblee, was vacated when former State Rep. Mike Jacobs accepted an appointment by Gov. Nathan Deal to serve on the DeKalb County State Court bench.

Bennett took to Facebook to thank his supporters in his apparent victory.

“This isn’t about me; this is about us,” he said. “This is about our entire community coming together for a better future. Thank you for your support.”

As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, Davis had not made a statement on the election results.

---

Photo: J. Max Davis, left, and Taylor J. Bennett