With qualifying closing on Wednesday, the field is locked in for the race to replace John Eaves as Fulton County’s next chairman.
Two Democrats, Robb Pitts and Keisha Waites, and one Republican, Gabriel Sterling, will square off on November 7th in a race that will likely determine which party gains control of the seven-member commission. Republicans Liz Hausmann, Bob Ellis, and Lee Morris are joined by Democrats Marvin Arrington and Emma Darnell as sitting members, while District 4 in downtown Atlanta remains vacant at the moment due to the untimely passing of Joan Garner earlier this year. Democrats are sure to retain that seat in a heavily blue district come election day this November.
Pitts certainly has the most experience of any of the candidates, having already served as Fulton commissioner from 2002 to 2014, and twenty years on the Atlanta City Council before that, including a stint as council president. A self described moderate, Pitts is touting his experience as his most valuable asset for a city and county government that will be loaded with new faces. “You’re going to have a brand new mayor with no experience,” said Pitts in an interview this week. “You’re going to have a brand new City Council president with no experience. And you’re going to have a City Council – probably half that council is going to be new.”
Waites is a former state Representative who won a special election for House District 60 (southeast Atlanta) in 2012. Like Pitts, she fancies herself something of a “bridge builder” who would be open to working with her Republican counterparts on the commission.
Sterling is the Republican in the race, and hopes to capitalize on the wave of momentum that saw President Donald Trump elected last November and Karen Handel winning the most expensive Congressional race in U.S. history earlier this year. The former Sandy Springs City Councilman has been involved in the Republican party since the 1980’s, and was instrumental in the creation of the cities of Brookhaven and Johns Creek.
Said Sterling on the race, “Because of the reforms in representation brought by Republicans in the State Legislature we now have the chance for the first time in history to have Republicans in charge of Fulton. There are three Republican Districts and three Democrat districts. This means that whoever wins the November special election for Fulton Chairman will be the fourth vote, a tie-breaking vote, in all county matters.”
The candidates will meet for a debate on October 4th at Riverwood International Charter School at 7 p.m.
