Incumbent Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat appeared to win a majority in the Democratic primary Tuesday against three opponents, according to unofficial results. One Fulton County commission seat, however, was close enough to require a runoff.
District 4 Commissioner Natalie Hall will face Moraima “Mo” Ivory, an Emory University law professor, in the June 18 runoff.
With all 481 precincts in Fulton County reporting, Labat appeared to clear the 50% threshold to avoid a runoff by a few percentage points. It those results hold, he would avoid an echo of the five-way 2020 race in which he won in a runoff.
Labat took the lead right from the start when early vote totals came in, and maintained roughly the same margin throughout the night to defeat Kirt Beasley, James “J.T.” Brown and Joyce Farmer.
Farmer, his closest rival, had less than half of Labat’s total. His three challengers, all sheriff’s office retirees, attacked Labat’s running of the county jail, where dozens of inmates have died in the last few years. Labat ran on a steady reduction in jail overcrowding and hopes for a new jail with more and better mental health care and other assistance for inmates.
There are no declared Republican candidates for sheriff in the November general election, though five-time candidate Charles Rambo — who has previously run as a Democrat — is running as an independent write-in candidate.
Hall, scarred by scandal, ended Tuesday nearly even with Ivory. Hall was ahead by less than 1%, meaning the two will head to a runoff with the elimination of third-place finisher Sonya Ofchus.
Hall served as chief of staff to former County Commissioner Joan Garner for six years. Following Garner’s death, Hall won a six-way special election to fill out the rest of Garner’s term. She won the seat for a full term in 2020.
But both Ivory and Ofchus criticized Hall for an affair with her then-chief of staff, revealed when he filed a sexual harassment complaint against her.
In September, other Fulton County commissioners censured Hall following a federal hearing on the issue. Early this year a federal judge ruled the county was liable in the sexual harassment case, and the county paid more than $900,000 in penalties and costs. In February, commissioners cut Hall’s office budget by $200,000 to partially offset the cost of the judgment.
There are no announced Republican contenders for the District 4 seat in the fall.
About 10% of registered voters turned out countywide for the Democratic primary, according to figures from the county Department of Registration & Elections.
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