Largely ignored among the talk of Republican mandates and shrieks of horror from Democrats over losing control of the state House, a couple of Democrats made unprecedented inroads in southern Cobb County.
AJC photo of Annette Kesting, the Cobb County Commission’s lone Democrat
Doug Stoner, from his website
Cobb County Commission District 4 - Annette Kesting beats Woody Thompson, becoming the lone Democrat and the first African American on the five-member board. One-third of her South Cobb district is comprised of African Americans, according to the AJC. Before the election, Thompson’s internal polling said the district is now 46 percent Republican, which is close to how the results turned out. Kesting beat Thompson by a 51-48 margin.
Georgia Democrats should take note of Kesting’s willingness to talk about her Christianity. The AJC quoted her (login) as saying, “You just have to have faith and stay strong and have Christ in your life. . . . I’m a Christian woman. That’s what I believe.”
State Senate 6th District - Doug Stoner edges out incumbent Sen. Ginger Collins. Stoner’s district has one of the county’s largest Latino and African American constituencies, which he apparently benefited from.
(UPDATE: Tony lives in Stoner’s district, and noted a lot of Flaggers were pissed with Collins, which likely contributed as well)
Guy Drexinger, chairman of the Cobb Democratic Party, told the AJC (login) state House Districts 34 and 38 will be vulnerable in the next election. Additionally, many think District 41 (where I live) may be vulnerable soon. Maybe not 2006 though.
Some other signs things may be picking up for the Dems in Cobb:
Even though Republican incumbent Phil Gingrey trounced Rick Crawford in the 11th U.S. House District, Gingrey lost Cobb County by 2,000 votes.
Only 16.4 percent of Cobb voters went for Mike Sheffield in the Court of Appeals race. You’ll recall Sheffield was the openly-conservative candidate backed by Sadie Field’s Christian Coalition.
I’ve wondered about the possibilities for Cobb for a long time. When I was a graduate student at GSU, I lived at the intersection of Delk Rd. and I-75 and noticed that the neighborhood was relatively diverse–mixed incomes, etc–and wondered why that didn’t translate into getting more Dems elected to office in that area. Part of it may be that people in that community saw themselves as transplants, living in a community for only a short time and therefore unable to commit to local politics.
I was wondering if you over-dramatic ass went up to the site of the world trade center and blew your head off. Good to see that you didn’t….I guess.
Cobb county elected a stoner. He.
Lush, what’s that in your new Gravatar?