Kingston carries Grady, but Perdue wins state

Grady County republican voters flip flopped in the U.S. Senate runoff and this time the majority supported the loser.
As The Messenger went to press Wednesday unofficial returns statewide indicated David Perdue narrowly defeated 11-term U.S. Representative Jack Kingston for the republican nomination with 50.83 percent of the vote to Kingston’s 49.17 percent.
However, the majority of Grady County republicans preferred Kingston by a vote of 383 to 256, according to unofficial returns. In the May 20 primary, the majority of Grady County republicans backed Perdue by a vote of 609 to 524.
Perdue will now face democratic nominee Michelle Nunn, daughter of longtime former Georgia U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, in the November general election. Perdue is the first cousin of former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue.
Grady County republicans also favored Michael L. “Mike” Buck for state school superintendent over Richard Woods, 338 to 228, but statewide it appeared that Woods would win the republican nomination by a margin of 50.06 percent to 49.94 percent.
Grady County democrats were also conflicted with the majority of state democratic voters in Tuesday’s primary runoff election.
Democrat Valarie D. Wilson won the democratic nomination for state school superintendent over Alisha Thomas Morgan 54.35 percent to 45.66 percent, but Morgan was the favorite of Grady County democrats 91 to Wilson’s 68 votes.
A total of 805 votes were cast in Grady County in Tuesday’s primary runoff, which is only a voter turnout of 6.7 percent, according to Grady County Elections Superintendent and Probate Judge Denise Maddox.