Fulton County likely has a new District 4 commissioner, according to unofficial results from Tuesday’s runoff election.
Challenger Moraima “Mo” Ivory defeated incumbent Commissioner Natalie Hall by a wide margin in the heavily Democratic district. Hall’s term expires at the end of the year.
Ivory leapt to a commanding lead as early votes were tallied Tuesday night, and that held as precinct totals came in. With all 73 precincts reporting before 10 p.m., Ivory held a three-to-one advantage with 4,612 votes cast. That’s only about one third as many people who voted in the May 21 primary, and likely less than 5% of the district’s registered voters.
Hall and Ivory were in a virtual tie after the primary election. On June 6, third-place finisher Sonya Ofchus endorsed Ivory.
Ivory is a law professor at Georgia State University, director of GSU’s Entertainment, Sports and Media Law Initiative. She said she’s a Spelman College graduate and a 35-year resident of District 4. Ivory ran for an Atlanta City Council seat in 2017.
For her priorities on commission, Ivory has named more services for seniors, better access to health care in the county’s southern half, promoting affordable housing, dealing with a court backlog and county jail conditions, and protecting tax money.
Hall’s reelection campaign was hobbled by a sexual harassment scandal. In September, other Fulton County commissioners censured her following a federal hearing on her affair with a former chief of staff. In that hearing, Hall repeatedly took the Fifth Amendment when asked if she placed tracking devices in the man’s car.
Early this year, a federal judge ruled the county was liable in the sexual harassment case, which cost taxpayers roughly $1 million in penalties and costs. In February, commissioners cut Hall’s office budget by $200,000 to partially offset the cost of the judgment.
Hall has served as District 4 commissioner since she won a 2017 special election to fill the remaining term of late Commissioner Joan Garner, for whom Hall served as chief of staff. Hall won a full term in 2020, but her district lines were redrawn in 2023. District 4 now covers the east-central side of Fulton County, including downtown Atlanta, Hapeville, and parts of East Point and College Park.
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