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Clarke County sticks with Democratic trend

Midterm elections

E.H. Culpepper watches poll results Tuesday night in Athens. Culpepper said Athens' trend of voting blue speaks of its flavor.
Special

By Todd DeFeo | todd.defeo@onlineathens.com | Story updated at 1:52 AM on Thursday, November 9, 2006

In 14 Athens area counties outside of Clarke, more than 68 percent of voters favored Gov. Sonny Perdue in his re-election bid Tuesday.

That's roughly 10 percentage points higher than the state average - just under 58 percent of voters cast ballots for Perdue. But in Clarke County, almost 54 percent of voters opted for Perdue's opponent, Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor.

"We know that Athens has always been a strong Democratic area," said Larry Davison, chairman of the Oconee County Republican Party. "Great people in Clarke County. We just wish they'd all vote Republican."

From the governor's office to Congress to the state House, Athens continues to remain a blue county in a sea of red.

"It speaks of the flavor of the community. We're a college town," said E.H. Culpepper, who lost Tuesday in a bid for House District 115 as an independent candidate.

And of the area surrounding Athens?

"It's an indication of the demographics," Culpepper said. "That's the way it is."

Culpepper may have spiced up the House District 115 race when he entered. In 2004, Jane Kidd, a Democrat, won the district with 56 percent of the vote.

On Tuesday, Culpepper picked up 25 percent of the vote while Athens attorney Doug McKillip won the three-way race outright by netting 52 percent of the vote.

State Rep. Bob Smith, R-Watkinsville, won handily in the House District 113 race, picking up 61 percent of the vote to defeat Democrat Becky Vaughn. But in the Clarke County portion of the district, Vaughn garnered almost 58 percent of the vote.

"That's normal," Davison said. "That's going to happen in Clarke County. That always happens in Clarke County, it seems. A majority of Republican votes (for a district like 113) are going to come from outside Clarke County."

In the region and outside of Athens, state Reps. Alan Powell, D-Hartwell, and Jeanette Jamieson, D-Toccoa, were the only Democrats to remain in power in the state House of Representatives.

"I don't really see a change" anytime soon, Davison said.

In the District 10 race for Congress, Charlie Norwood, R-Evans, cruised to victory over Terry Holley, a Democrat from Grovetown, picking up 67 percent of the vote. While Congressional republicans nationwide found themselves on the losing side of Tuesday's vote, Norwood remained in power by focusing on a pair of issues that weigh heavily on people's minds.

"Charlie Norwood has been very outspoken about border security and illegal immigration, which is what the people want," said David Oppenheimer, chairman of the Jackson County Republican Party. "The Republicans have flat ignored it for a long time."

Tommy Irvin, the longest-serving agriculture commissioner nationwide, earned re-election Tuesday to a post he has held since 1969. Statewide, he received 56 percent of the vote and almost 51 percent of the vote in the Athens area to defeat Gary Black, R-Commerce.

"In a state that's so Republican, that's a shellacking," Oppenheimer said.

In just about every race they entered, Libertarian candidates garnered roughly 4 percent of the vote - not enough to prove a spoiler in any up-ballot race and force a runoff. With 5.1 percent of the vote, state schools superintendent candidate David Chastain netted the most for any Libertarian candidate seeking a statewide office; he also took more than 7 percent of the vote in Clarke County.

Although the Libertarians may have made some gains - and headlines - statewide, the battle remains between Democrats and Republicans, but a shift in power doesn't appear imminent, locally anyway.

"I've always felt an odd camaraderie with the Clarke County Republicans," said Dan Matthews, chairman of the Oconee County Democratic Party. "We're both sort of the minority."