NEWTON COUNTY – Despite Newton County’s majority vote for democratic candidate and former Atlanta City Councilwoman Keisha Sean Waites, Peter Hubbard has won the District 3 Democratic primary runoff election for Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC).
The winner was made official on Tuesday night after just over 100,000 of registered Georgia voters cast their ballots.
The original primaries took place last month from June 13-17 in which no democratic candidate won the required 50% of votes.
In the state of Georgia, Waites garnered 46.02% while Hubbard received 33.27%. For Newton County, Waites earned 61.83% while Hubbard received 19.82%. During Tuesday’s runoff, Georgia voters cast 66,084 votes for Hubbard and 47,501 votes for Waites, crowning Hubbard as the winner by a 16.36% margin.
Newton County itself has 86,865 registered voters, and of that, only 1,025 people voted. That’s just 1.18% of registered voters according to Newton County’s unofficial election summary.
It should be noted that in both sets of data, voting was only open to registered Democrats.
The Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey released the following statement congratulating Hubbard on his win:
“The Democratic Party of Georgia congratulates Peter Hubbard on his victory in the District 3 Democratic primary runoff for Public Service Commission,” Bailey wrote. “Georgia Democrats are now full steam ahead to November’s general election, where Peter and District 2 nominee Dr. Alicia Johnson will hold Republicans accountable for driving up hardworking Georgians’ power bills, flip these seats from red to blue, and finally put people ahead of corporate profits on the Public Service Commission.”
According to the PSC website, commissioners work to ensure all Georgians receive safe, reliable and reasonably priced telecommunications, electric and natural gas services. They have the power to determine costs of consumers and make and enforce rules that affect their regulated utilities.
Hubbard will face off against Republican Incumbent Fitz Johnson come the Nov. 4 election. Advance voting dates run from Oct. 14 to Oct. 31.
