Handel conceeds, Deal wins

With than less than 2,500 votes separating former U.S. Congressman Nathan Deal and former Secretary of State Karen Handel and some absentee and military ballots yet to be counted, Ms. Handel conceded defeat Wednesday. She pledged to unite behind Deal in his upcoming general election contest with Democratic nominee, former Governor Roy Barnes.
With 100 percent of the precincts across the state reporting, Deal stood at 292,007, or 51 percent of the vote, to Handel’s 289,576 votes, or 49 percent.
Handel was not only the favorite of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin but also of Grady County voters.
Locally Handel earned 489 votes compared to 462 for Deal.
Only 9.47 percent of registered voters even bothered to cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary runoff election.
Grady County Republicans went along with their statewide brethren in picking Sam Olens as their choice to face Democrat Ken Hodges in November in the race for state attorney general. Olens picked up 434 votes here while his challenger Preston Smith earned 406.
Voters in the Democratic primary on the local level favored Gail Buckner as their choice for the Democratic nominee for secretary of state with 116 votes to Georganna Sinkfield’s total of 94 votes. However, statewide it was Sinkfield who prevailed.
Local Republicans favored Ralph Hudgens over Maria Sheffield 444 to 411 and that was the choice of the majority of voters statewide as well.
That was not the case in the primary runoff for public service commissioner. Grady County Republicans preferred John Douglas, 420, to Tim Echols, 395, but it was Echols who won statewide.