COVINGTON, Ga. – With three seats on the Covington city council up for grabs in just four months, one major domino in the election has officially fallen.

Susie Keck, current Post 1 East council member, has officially decided that she will not seek reelection for her seat this November. This confirms she would not be returning for a third term.

Keck told The Covington News on Tuesday that her decision to leave her seat open came down to her belief in term limits for local government.

“When I ran originally back in 2017, I ran on term limits,” Keck said. “I did not think it was a good idea that people served 35, 20, 18 years. I was very adamant about getting term limits put into place.”

Keck added that while she campaigned for a two-term limit, a three-term limit was ultimately decided upon.

But regardless, Keck says she is sticking to her beliefs on why a two-term limit is needed.

“I ran on two term limits and I’m leaving on two term limits,” Keck said. “You get great ideas from new people, especially if they’ve lived in other places.”

Keck was first elected to the Covington city council in 2017, defeating then-incumbent Chris Smith. She was reelected in 2021, defeating Carla Ferry.

With Keck officially bowing out of the council this year, the race for the Post 1 East seat is beginning to heat up.

Dwayne Turner and Rev. Eric Threets have both declared intent to run for the seat to The News. Lee Mayfield has posted on his Facebook page that he is running for the seat, but has not sent an official confirmation to The News as of this writing.

Official qualifying for the seat will take place from Aug. 18-22, per the state’s election calendar.

As for Keck, she does not plan on running for another office as of now. She hopes that her supporters and citizens alike know she did the best she could while on the council.

“I hope that they know I did the best I could do and I’m very proud of the work that the mayor and councils have done in my eight years,” Keck said.