Some of the state’s most influential Democrats urged voters to reject a former GOP legislator running with a “D” by her name to lead deep-blue Rockdale County.
They pressed party loyalists to back a veteran ex-commissioner as DeKalb County’s next chief executive over a colleague who reached out to Republicans.
And the top Democrat in the Georgia House sought to defeat a little-known educator in a race for an open legislative seat.
In all three Tuesday races, Democratic voters rebuffed the establishment favorites in party runoffs.
Perhaps the biggest upset involved JaNice VanNess, a former Republican state senator who competed as a Democrat against incumbent Rockdale County Chairman Oz Nesbitt.
U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, former gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams and other party elders rallied around Nesbitt, a former law enforcement officer first elected to the County Commission in 2008 and as the county’s chief executive in 2016.
But VanNess rode a wave of frustration over Nesbitt’s leadership to a roughly 20-point victory amid a campaign that largely steered clear of state and national politics despite the backdrop of one of Georgia’s bluest counties.
On the trail, VanNess called herself an independent-minded Democrat who backs Medicaid expansion and supports lower taxes. She said she won’t vote for Donald Trump but won’t yet endorse Joe Biden either.
Besides, she added, party affiliation shouldn’t matter as much in a race dominated by parochial issues such as millage rates, zoning policies and construction projects.
“I’d rather be in the game,” she said, “than on the sidelines complaining.”
Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
Credit: Jenni Girtman for the AJC
In DeKalb County, voters also rejected pleas by Abrams, Dickens, Williams and dozens of other Democratic officials who endorsed Commissioner Larry Johnson over fellow ex-Commissioner Lorraine Cochran-Johnson.
Cochran-Johnson caught heat for appealing to DeKalb Republicans and was heavily outspent by her rivals in the two rounds of voting. She still won by double digits, making her the county’s first Black female CEO.
”It’s a good thing to have endorsements — but endorsements don’t win races,” she told supporters. “Never allow the narrative that people create to interfere with your good judgment about who has the capacity to do the job.”
Political strategist Fred Hicks, who briefly worked for a rival contender before joining Cochran-Johnson’s campaign in its final weeks, said her victory is a “blow to the traditional tastemakers in DeKalb.”
“It also signals a significant shift in the power base from Southwest DeKalb to the central and increasingly Democratic northern part of the county,” he said. “A recalibration in the Democratic voter base happened last night. It’s truly a new day.”
In Middle Georgia, educator Tangie Herring defeated Juawn Jackson in the race for a newly created, court-ordered majority-Black legislative district stretching across parts of Monroe and Macon-Bibb counties.
Herring, a political newcomer, initially sought to challenge House Minority Leader James Beverly, the beleaguered Democratic leader of the chamber.
But after Republicans drew Herring out of Beverly’s district, he backed Jackson, a former local school board president. Herring, meanwhile, drew support from ex-Gov. Roy Barnes, several Democratic legislators and local Macon leaders on her way to a runoff win.
“I always did the work. I always believed in the people I was serving,” Herring told WMAZ following her victory over Jackson. “I always believed in why I was doing this.”
There were other bright spots for Democratic leaders, including several legislative runoffs where the party favorite prevailed.
The Senate Democratic caucus went all-in for former military officer Kenya Wicks in a south metro Atlanta seat. She defeated onetime state Rep. Valencia Stovall, who was labeled “basically a Republican” in flyers targeting liberal voters.
Conservative commentators were quick to criticize the party elite for the other setbacks. Shelley Wynter, who hosts a show on News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB, said some of the efforts by Democratic heavyweights clearly “backfired.”
“My big takeaway going into November,” Wynter said, “is that Democrats and the machine, especially in Atlanta, need to be concerned about the slipping influence it holds on the electorate.”
Staff writer Sara Gregory contributed to this article.
