Ruppenthal unseats Huddleston

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Superior Court Judge Johnnie Caldwell mustered enough votes in Tuesday's election to defeat challenger John Mrosek by over 2,600 votes among those casting ballots in the Griffin Judicial Circuit.

Only 22 percent of Fayette voters turned out, but they favored Mrosek by just over 1,000 votes. In Fayette, Mrosek got 5,433 votes from his home county while Caldwell received 4,386 votes.

Fayette voters also decided on a new magistrate judge. Bob Ruppenthal edged out incumbent Grady L. Huddleston by a margin of 221 votes.

In the other magistrate race, incumbent Joseph A. Tinsley Sr. kept his seat, fending off challenger Leo Kelly with 65.5 percent of the vote.

For county commission post 1, voters chose incumbent Harold Bost over challenger Christopher J. Ramig, with Bost getting 55 percent of the vote. Bost's margin of victory was 802 votes.

The other county commission race, for post 1, will end up in a runoff along with the two posts that were up for grabs on the Fayette County Board of Education. The four-way race for the District 28 state senator's seat is also headed to a runoff.

The runoff is slated for Tuesday, Aug. 8 (see related story on Page 2A).

In other contested district and statewide races affecting Fayette County:

Gail Notti defeated J.P. Agrawal for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives 107th district spot. Notti received almost three-fourths of the vote in Fayette County also.

Mac Collins defeated challenger Herbie Galloway by taking 7,504 votes for the Republican nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives 107th seat. Collins also won Fayette County by almost a 9-1 margin.

David Burgess defeated Mac Barber district-wide for the Democratic nomination for a seat on the Public Service Commission. Barber was favored in Fayette County by 55 percent of voters.

Jim Boyd defeated Michael A. Dipietro district-wide for the other Democratic nomination for a seat on the Public Service Commission. Boyd received 72 percent of the votes cast in the race for Fayette County.

A total of 10,371 people voted in Fayette County. The overwhelming majority of those voters cast Republican ballots. The Republican voters outnumbered the Democrat voters 8,788 to 1,526, according to information from the Fayette County Board of Elections.

Another 57 persons chose to vote nonpartisan ballots only.