The Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax and its supporters came out as the winners in Tuesday night's primary race, along with Democratic candidate for the Post 2 Commission seat, Courtney Dillard.

Rockdale County passed the $75 million SPLOST by a comfortable margin - 6491 "yes" (57.38 percent) to 4822 "no" (42.62 percent).

"We thank the citizens of Rockdale County for their judgment in continuing the SPLOST and continuing the progress of Rockdale County," said Mike Houchard, a member of the current SPLOST citizens' oversight committee.

Although the new SPLOST passed with ease, the process leading up to the election wasn't at all times a certain one.

"We've been worried for 14 months," said Fred Straub, another member of the current SPLOST citizens' oversight committee.
"It came down to people's trust," Mike Hilleboe added. "It's been working for 20 years."

 "And it'll keep working," said Straub. The current SPLOST, projected to end with about $94 million, will sunset in 2011.

Post 2 Commission seat Democratic candidate Courtney Dillard stood in front of a joyous room at Jim and Nick's Barbecue around 9:30 p.m. and proclaimed that victory was at hand.

Dillard defeated opponent Caycie Dix for the Democratic nomination for the Rockdale County Commissioner Post 2 seat, with 2018 votes (62.31 percent) for Dillard and 1273 votes (37.67 percent) for Dix, according to unofficial results with all the precincts reporting.

The minister, husband and father of five then thanked the people who he said made it all happen, and who worked the polls on Tuesday.

"It's been a long day filled with small days that culminated into the conclusion of this first stage. It feels good to finally get this part over. We've always felt confident that we could pull through and win but we had to go through the process of identifying the issues and making sure we stood with the community to find out what exactly are the things that are important to them."

The group of around 50 people continued rejoicing in the win past the announcements that all precincts had reported, which came around 11 p.m.

"At this point it's a big hoorah," Dillard said. "Because we can now take about 12 hours off get maybe a night's sleep and get back to work."

Although Dix came up short in the polls, she said she was proud of her campaign.

"Well of course the results didn't turn out the way that I had hoped," Dix said. "I still felt that it was a good race, one that I ran well with professional wisdom and integrity. For that I'm proud of I think all my supporters. "

The 1998 Rockdale County High and 2005 Thomas Cooley Law School graduate said she will continue to be involved in Rockdale County.

"That's not the last Rockdale County has seen of me," Dix said. "I'm a concerned citizen of Rockdale, which is the reason I ran first and foremost. I'm going to be very involved in the community, so that's not the last that they have heard from me."

Incumbent Post 2 Commissioner and Republican nominee JaNice Van Ness said, "I congratulate Caycie for entering the race and I commend her for her commitment to attending the meetings and learning" what's involved in the job of being a commissioner. She said she looked forward to "discussing the real issues of Rockdale County and solutions for the future" with Courtney Dillard in the November election.

Similar scenes took place throughout Rockdale County and the state as Democrats and Republicans discovered their fate on primary election day.

State Representative and Senate seats

The race for State Representative, District 94, Democrats was a tight one and several other local state races ended in run-offs.

Unofficial statewide results show, with 99 percent of precincts reporting statewide, there will be runoffs for the Democratic nominations for State Representative District 95 and State Representative District 94.

For District 94, the top two Democratic candidates were Dar'shun N. Kendrick, with 1,346 of the votes (35.9 percent), who will be in a runoff with Rhonda Peek, who finished with 1,029 votes (27.4 percent). Sherri L. Washington was just behind with 8,600 (22.9 percent), followed by Andrew Bostic with 518 (13.8 percent). The winner of the runoff will go against Republican Steven Connor in the fall.

For District 95 Democratic incumbent candidate Toney Collins lead the way with 43 percent (1,402) and will be in a runoff with Pam Dickerson at 33.6 percent (1,096). Andrea Cooper finished with 23.4 percent (761). The winner of the runoff will face Republican Rodney Upton in the fall.

State Senate District 17 Republican candidates Rick Jeffares and Todd Hilton will be in a run-off against each other. Jeffares won 42.7 percent (8300) while Hilton had 32.2 percent (6258). Former Newton County commissioner Ester Fleming Jr. followed with 25.2 percent (4898).

For State Senate District 17 Democratic candidates, blogger Jim Nichols won easily with 62.8 percent of the vote (4,265) against businessman and tax-office worker Nicholas Day, who had 37.2 percent (2528).

"I think the message from voters on all sides of the aisle is that they're fed up with the status quo," said Nichols by phone. "I took on the state senate caucus's candidate. I am the young upstart, I guess... I'm not the only person that's been unhappy with what Democratic party has been doing for a number of years. I think the message really hit voters and they responded. The Democratic party needs to be heading in a new direction too."

Primary run-off elections are on August 10.

Congressional District 4

Two elections that were firmly decided on Tuesday night were the Republican and Democrat spots for the Fourth Congressional District. Incumbent Hank Johnson was the Democratic vote with 27,415 votes (55.2 percent), and Liz Carter was the Republican choice with 2,587 (54.86 percent).

Johnson gave his victory speech around 11 p.m., thanking his volunteers for their energy and effort. "I wouldn't be here tonight without their commitment," he said.

"People say I'm not a flashy congressman. I'm not focused on promoting myself. I'm focused on getting things done."

"I represent the values of this proud district," he said. "I'm going to keep fighting for what's right even when it's not popular. I'm going to keep working with our president as we renew our economy and move America forward."

Republican nominee Liz Carter celebrated with about 200 supporters in Tucker while the numbers came in. "We're very excited to see Hank Johnson come out and we look forward to yanking Hank in November," she said by phone after the results were in.

"It's a very clear indication when you look at the numbers and the vote that we will have a close race. But we will have the ability to send Congressman Johnson home in November."

Governor, US Senate

Rockdale voted much like the rest of the state when it came to the gubernatorial candidates and US Senate Democratic candidates.

Democrat Roy Barnes won the county with an even larger majority - 69.22 percent of the county - than he won in the state - 65.8 percent state-wide. Thurbert Baker trailed in second place at the county's polls at 23.64 percent, compared to 65.8 percent state-wide.

Republican Karen Handel also got a larger majority of votes in Rockdale with 38.48 percent, compared to 34.1 percent in the state. The second runner up in Rockdale was Eric Johnson, with 21.24 percent, but he was the third-place finisher overall in the state with 20.1 percent. Handel will face Nathan Deal in a run-off on August 10. Deal won 18.75 percent of the county but 22.9 percent overall.

The county supported Rockdale resident and former county chief of staff RJ Hadley only a little more than the rest of the state for the US Senate Democratic race, but he still trailed by a wide margin in local polls. Hadley won 18.6 percent of the vote in the county and 15.6 percent statewide in the race against Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, who won the Democratic nomination for US Senate in the state with 84.4 percent. Thurmond will face incumbent Senator Johnny Isakson in November.