Final Edit RING Podcast Episode 4 Wednesday May 22 2024

The host of a podcast discusses the results of the Georgia primary elections. They mention the new sheriff of Dougherty County, Teron Hayes, who won by a large margin. They also discuss other local races, such as the Lee County Sheriff's race and the Dougherty County District Attorney's Office race. They mention upcoming runoff elections and provide details on various candidates and their victories. They conclude the podcast by thanking listeners and providing information on where to find more episodes. The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are that of the host and do not necessarily represent the views of any organization, individual, company, or business. Welcome back in to The Ring, a random internet news grapevine podcast. I'm Walter Johnson, and this is episode number four, recorded on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024. Today, after the Georgia primary elections, I'm just going to briefly talk about some of those elections and which races may be headed to, or are indeed headed to, a runoff come June 18th, Tuesday, June 18th, 2024. Which means some people will vote early, yet again, it's another early voting period, prior to the runoff, so too much to talk about in so little time, so let's go ahead and get started. And take a look at some of the election results in Dougherty and surrounding counties, and probably first start off with the sheriff's races, and Teron Hayes will be the new sheriff of Dougherty County, and there's a new sheriff in Dougherty County, Teron Hayes, Teron Stode, T-R-O-N, Teron Hayes, H-A-Y-E-S, is the current chief deputy for the Dougherty County Sheriff's Office, he's now the top law enforcement officer here in Dougherty County, and Hayes had an overwhelming victory over Keaton Hall, a veteran law enforcement professional whose experience includes 30 years, years with the Albany Police Department, also spent some time with the Albany State University Police Department, so many years of experience in law enforcement still, and there will be Teron Hayes that will represent, Teron Hayes will become the new Dougherty County Sheriff replacing Kevin Sproul, Sproul still S-P-R-O-U-L, and Sproul announced last year, August of last year, 2023, that he would not seek re-election, and it seems like the voters felt, the vast majority of voters in Dougherty County, over 58% of them, believe that Teron Hayes is fit to pin the bell, become the new Dougherty County Sheriff, and how about in Lee County, the Lee County Sheriff's race, Reggie Rachel won another four-year term as Sheriff, winning 2-1 over Dean Gore, 67% of the vote for Rachel, and 33% for Dean Gore, and Dougherty County District Attorney's Office, and Dougherty County District Attorney's Office, another key local race, the incumbent Greg Edwards, who found himself facing re-election for the first time since he was first elected in 2008, and local attorney Elizabeth Gibson challenged Greg Edwards, and Edwards winning 68% to 32%, and the Dougherty County Commission, District 5 race, Gloria Gaines, will retain, will keep her seat in District 5 of the Dougherty County Commission, getting 54% of the vote, as opposed to 46%, and this is according to WAOB.com, by the way, and School Board District 5, and another incumbent, James Bush, winning almost 2-1, 66% to 34% of the vote over Wanda Mallard, and staying in Dougherty County, and it looks like the race, the battle to replace retiring Superior Court Judge Willie Lockett will come down to a runoff on June 18th, and Victoria Johnson received 49% of the vote, compared to 32% of the vote for Valerie Brown Williams and Michael Tabarrok, and only 18% of the vote, and unlike other offices, the Superior Court Judge, now a Superior Court Judge, in the election of these judges, is a non-partisan, meaning a registered voter here in Georgia, doesn't have to declare party preference, or be Democrat or Republican, in order to vote in these elections, vote for judges, Superior Court, and this is in the Dougherty County Judicial Circuit, which includes Dougherty County, and other counties in that district, and so it looks like Victoria Johnson and Valerie Brown Williams will be scoring off on a runoff on June 18th, as this is being recorded, and how about more elections in Lee County, I already mentioned Reggie Rachels winning over Dean Gore, to stay on as the Lee County Sheriff, and Board of Education in District 5, Fran Walls, and an almost 3-1 win, 73 to 27% over Mary Eggler, and the next to become her, and Fran Walls is the incumbent, and she'll stay on, as the Board of District 5 representative, in the Lee County schools, so, and how about in the race for the state house seat, District 153, and David Sampson, another incumbent, had an easy victory, over two of his challengers, Joshua Anthony, only 20 years old, and Tracy Taylor, a firefighter with the Albany Fire Department, and David Sampson, wins the Republican nomination, and has won the Democratic nomination, and Sampson will get a challenge from Brenda Bell, and the Republican nominee, in the general election on November 5th of 2024, and Sampson won 58% of the vote, and Joshua Anthony, and Tracy Taylor, Mr. Tracy Taylor, ran almost neck and neck, and 21% of the vote, and even a change in party affiliation, from Republican to Democrat, and didn't help Tracy Taylor at all, and announced his run for House District 153. And Taylor signed a change in party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, and like I said, however, that didn't help. I mean, so it looks like Sampson is still a representative for District 153, and at least that's the case for now, and how about some of the Congressional offices, how about in House District 152, and Wayne, we have four candidates running on the Republican side of things, and Georgia's Second Judicial District, which includes multiple counties in southwest Georgia, includes a good chunk of counties in our coverage area, southwest Georgia network coverage area, and there were Wayne Johnson, Chuck Hand, Michael Nixon, and Regina Leporado, so, and Wayne Johnson received 45% of the vote compared to Chuck Hand, 32%, Michael Nixon had 19%, and Regina Leporado, still IPA, ROTO, received only 5% of the vote, so, it'll be Wayne Johnson against Chuck Hand, and another runoff on June 18th, and decide who will challenge longtime incumbent Democrat Sanford Bishop in the general election on November 5th, and speaking of Democrats, in House District 8, which also includes a few counties in our area, there is Butler, who won 72% to 20% over Vince Watkins, so, let's see, how about, how about some other races of interest before wrapping things up, and Carol Speer, spelled S-P-E-I-R, won 55% to 45% over Linda Freeman, to become the pro-gate court judge in Terrell County, and District 5, Board of Education, Albert Cook, probably will keep his seat, winning 68% to 32% over Ada McIntyre, and Superior Court Clerk, Tina Ivey, and Lisa DeMott, will be in a runoff, 45% to 43%, 45% for Ivey, 43% for DeMott, and Paige Childress, coming in a distant third, at 13%, and in a virtual dead heat, for the Terrell County shop, between Vernon Jesse and Wallace Price, 50%, on the Democrat side, and Republican side, James Driver, won 59% to 41% over Richard Kilby, and how about Fort Worth County's tax commissioner, and Lakeisha McGill, won 55% to 26% to 15% over Keetra Barnes and Terry Sanders, respectively, and in the county commissioners chair race, in Fort Worth County, Fred Dent won 75% to 25% over Fred Dent, Fred Dent, and Fred Dent won 75% to 25% over Renard Ball, and that's going to do it for this installment of the Ring Podcast, this episode number four, and I just thank you for listening, and visit the Southwest Georgia Network website at southwestgeorgianetwork.com, and then go to the Ring blog, the Ring Podcast blog at randominternetnewsgreatmind.substack.com, and follow the podcast there, also on Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts, and follow the Southwest Georgia Network on X, and SWJ Network. I'm Walter Johnson, I thank you for listening, and hope to talk to you again soon. Thank you, God bless you, and goodbye.