Augusta’s mayoral runoff features a political tale as old as time, with a well connected ‘establishment’ candidate squaring off an ‘outsider’ boasting his business credentials. And if the first round of voting tells us anything, it’s that the race is neck and neck.
Just 200 votes separated Steven Kendrick and Garnett Johnson in last week’s election, which featured seven other candidates vying to succeed the term-limited Mayor Hardie Davis. But because neither candidate could get the 50 percent-plus one needed to win outright, Kendrick and Johnson will continue to duel until the June 21 runoff.
Steven Kendrick
Kendrick, currently chairman of the Augusta Development Authority and the longtime Augusta tax commissioner, boasts endorsements from the likes of state Sen. Harold Jones, state Rep. Wayne Howard and Richmond County Marshal Ramone Lamkin, among others. He was the favorite coming into the race, with many prognosticators speculating that he may win outright.
“I’ve had experience with private budgets and government budgets. (My) academic background and that group of experiences allows me to have a perspective that will benefit Augusta,” he told The Augusta Chronicle last year when he announced his campaign.
But not everyone views that kind of experience as a positive.
Garnett Johnson
This week third place-candidate Marion Williams and Bob Young, a former mayor of Augusta, both endorsed Garnett Johnson, calling out the need for an ‘outsider’ in the city’s top office.
“Last week the voters sent a powerful message,” Young said when making his endorsement. “They are looking for a fresh face; someone with no government baggage.”
Johnson, who started a successful office supply company, has presented himself as the pro-business political outsider in the race, something of a rarity in Augusta politics. He’s not a complete novice though, having been appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp to the board of the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
“This community, which is a bordering community on the beautiful Savannah River, how, it’s not determined on how you started,” he said on election night. “And this is what’s great about this country: It’s not determined on how and where you start; it’s by what effort you put in to finish.”
Expect both candidates to put in a mighty effort as they begin the feverish sprint for the finish line just under three weeks away.
