Once the votes were counted and the smoke cleared Tuesday night Bob Blackburn squeaked by David Stover to win the runoff for the District 3 seat on the Coweta County Commission. Blackburn won with just under 51 percent of the vote.

District 3 voters cast a total of 2,874 ballots in the northeast Coweta race. Blackburn came away with 1,460 votes compared to 1,414 taken by Stover, representing a win for Blackburn with 50.8 percent of the vote. A total of 14 provisional votes remain to be tallied but those ballots would not alter the outcome.

Blackburn Wednesday morning said, “I did not win. The people of Coweta won. I’ll always do my best for them. I was humbled by their support and their vote.”

Blackburn also thanked those who played a critical role in his runoff victory. Those included Jackie and Gudi Robertson, Lee Moody, Karen Hubbard, Ricky Barnes and all the friends and volunteers who helped.

Blackburn offered a special thanks to Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, George “Kett” Harper, Rep. Billy Horne, Fulton Country Commissioner Tom Lowe and to Sen. Mitch Seabaugh for his close friendship, encouragement and kind words. Blackburn also thanked the Redneck Gourmet in downtown Newnan, noting that the restaurant had never hosted an event where the candidate lost the election.

The District 3 primary race July 20 saw a three-way contest between candidates Blackburn, Stover and Kett Harper. Incumbent Commissioner Randolph Collins opted not to run for re-election.

In that race Blackburn garnered 1,103 votes, or 37.54 percent, Stover took 976 votes, or 33.22 percent and Harper received 859 votes, or 29.24 percent.