Shirley loses his Post 1 race in Fayetteville, Tyrone voters give 9-vote victory to newcomer Hill, and both Peachtree City incumbents easily reelected —
Fayetteville incumbent Post 1 Councilman Harlan Shirley has been defeated by military veteran Darryl Langford. Though it was a 3-way race, Langford tallied 50.87% of the vote total (822) to Shirley’s 34% (553).
It’s an historic win, putting the second ever African-American on the Fayetteville Council. Mayor Ed Johnson blazed the trail before Langford, first as a councilman and then as mayor. Johnson was unopposed and won his second term as mayor in voting Tuesday.
Fayetteville Post 2 Councilwoman Kathaleen Brewer faces a runoff with Joe Clark. Brewer came in second with 470 votes (29%) while Clark led the 4-person field with 506 votes (31%).
In Peachtree City incumbent Post 1 Councilman Phil Prebor won over his two challengers by a hefty margin. Prebor received 1779 votes (62%) while challengers Morgan Hallmon and Oobi Childs were far behind at 695 (24%) and 386 (13%) respectively.
Post 2 incumbent Mike King similarly outpaced his two challengers with 1741 votes (62%). Steven Newton had 827 (29%) and Darryl Csicsila had 242 (9%).
Because Prebor and King won more than 50% of the votes in each race, no runoff is required.
In Tyrone, Post 1 incumbent Linda Howard was returned to office with 821 votes (71%) to David Barlow’s 323 (28%).
In the Post 2 Tyrone race, Melissa Hill edged out Billy Campbell 422 votes (35.49%) to 413 (34.74%). Michael Edwards came in third in the open seat race with 351 votes (29.52%).
Since the Tyrone charter provides for no runoff, the top vote-getter automatically is the winner and takes office. Since Melissa Hill had 9 more votes than Billy Campbell, she will take the oath of office in January for the Post 2 seat on the Tyrone Council.
The winner in voter turnout Tuesday was easily the single precinct in Tyrone. The Rareover District, voting at the Tyrone Library, registered a 21.4 voter turnout, far and away the best in the three cities.
Best in Peachtree City was Shakerag West, voting at the Peachtree City Library, with 17.98%. The precinct with the least voter participation was Kedron, voting at Peachtree Christian Church. Only 8.11% of voters showed up to decide on two of their next council members.
In Fayetteville, with two city precincts, the North beat the South, but not by much. North Fayetteville, voting at the old Fayette County High School complex, turned out with 12.97% of the total number of registered voters in that district, while the South, voting at the Fayette County Library, trailed slightly with 12.45%.
