The Democratic candidate for County Chair for the Board of Commissioners will be Marcello Banes, who received 51.40 percent of the vote. The total number of votes cast was 2778, with 1,428 for Banes and 1,350 for Phil Johnson.

He will run against Republican Aaron Varner in November.

Banes said he was grateful to the citizens of Newton County "who have decided they want Marcello Banes on the Democratic side of the ticket.

"I want to give honor to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, without whom this wouldn't be possible. I want to thank my church family, Springfield Baptist Church and Pastor Eric Lee for their support. I want to thank Team Banes for their support."

He said he also wanted to thank his opponent, Phil Johnson for running a clean race. "We look forward to representing Newton County on the Democratic ticket."

Johnson was honored by the dedication of his team, saying, “When you work as hard as my family, our team, and I worked, it’s disappointing not to reach your goal. But, I am proud of the campaign we ran and humbled by the unbelievable effort of amazing volunteers who gave this everything they had. This wasn’t just about winning an election; it was about persuading people to unite to build a better Newton County together. As Ted Kennedy closed his remarks at the 2008 Democratic National Convention: ‘the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.’”

State Senate Democratic candidate also decided

Tonya Anderson took 1,103 or 53.67 percent of the votes, and will be the Democratic candidate for the State Senate District 43 race. She won out over Dee Dawkins-Haigler, who received 952, or 46.33 percent of the vote. Anderson will run against State Senator JaNice Van Ness in the general election.