Fulton County Sheriff Labat wins re-election by large margin
By Donnell Suggs
Incumbent Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat was re-elected in what can be considered a landslide on Super Tuesday. As of 10 p.m., three hours after polls were closed in Georgia’s largest county, Labat was leading the other three candidates, Kirt Beasley, James “JT” Brown, and Joyce Farmer by more than 23,000 votes.
Labat earned nearly 40,000 votes while Farmer finished second overall with just under 17,000 votes. Both Beasley and Brown earned 11% of the vote with just over 8,000 votes each.
Asked how he feels about having been in such a comfortable lead with more than 60% of the votes having been counted earlier in the evening, Labat said he was “fortunate.”
“We worked really hard and were very intentional about what we wanted to do, which is protect and serve our community.”
Asked what this victory meant to him, Labat said it was, “The opportunity for us to continue to serve the community.”
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens made his way into the watch party a few minutes after 9 p.m. after having spent some time at Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ watch party. Willis won her primary election by 60,000-plus votes over Democratic challenger Christian Wise Smith. A supporter of Labat in the past, Dickens shook hands and hugged Labat and his wife Jacki. Labat’s daughter Maya arrived a few minutes earlier. She was following the election results on her phone. “On my way down here I heard it was 58%,” she said.
Looks like 54% is all Labat will need to continue representing Fulton County in the role of sheriff. Just under 90,000 votes were cast in the race for sheriff. Fulton County has 751,192 registered voters, according to date provided by the Secretary of State’s Office.
Other County races:
Fulton County Superior Court Clerk was won by the incumbent Che Alexander with 52% of the vote. Former Atlanta City Councilmember Keisha Waites finished with 33% of the vote.
The race for Fulton County Commissioner District 4 seat looks like it is headed to a run off between incumbent Natalie Hall and Georgia State University professor and lawyer Mo Ivory. The pair were stuck at 41% of the vote each well into the 11 o’clock hour on election night.
The race for Clayton County sheriff has narrowly inched its way into a runoff as well. Incumbent Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen won 50% of the vote Tuesday night while challenger Jeffrey Turner won just 24%, but that was enough to finish in second place. Both Clarence Cox and Charlene Watson Fraser finished in third and fourth place after earning 20% and 7% of the remaining votes, respectfully.