South Fulton's new representative on the Fulton County Commission is local businessman Bill Edwards.|

Edwards was sworn in Wednesday after tallying 4,426 votes in Tuesday's special election runoff to take the 7th District commission seat easily. His opponent, Khadijah Abdur-Rahman polled 1,547 votes.

Edwards, 50, owner of Edwards Allstate Agency, has pushed for cooperation between the commission and the county Board of Education to improve the quality of education for local students. He also will work for business recruitment and job creation in the county, he has said.

The special election was called to fill the unexpired term of Commissioner Michael Hightower, who resigned while under investigation on bribery charges. He later pleaded guilty to charges that he accepted $25,000 in exchange for favorable votes on county contracts.

Thirteen candidates ran for the open seat, and Edwards and Abdur-Rahman qualified for the runoff in the General Election Nov. 7.