Dougherty voters make voices heard in Tuesday primary

ALBANY – It was a good day for Dougherty County incumbents and a political newcomer on Tuesday, with the “I’s” winning primaries in County Commission races and for Dougherty County School Board seats.

Edward Brown came out ahead in a three-way race in the District 12 state Senate race to replace the retiring Freddie Powell Sims, D-Dawson, who endorsed Brown’s bid for a two-year term.

Dougherty County Commission Chairman Lorenzo Heard won a second four-year term, receiving 62.15% of the vote to 37.85% for former Albany City Commissioner Henry Mathis, according to unofficial results from Tuesday. The incumbent chairman received 6,830 votes, with 4,159 voters casting ballots for Mathis.

County Commission District 6 incumbent Anthony Jones also easily won re-election with 1,342 votes, or 80.65% of ballots cast, while Willie Martin finished with 322 votes, or 19.35%.

District 4 School Board incumbent Melissa Strother won in a close contest with 713 votes to 700 for challenger Adam Inyang.

Dougherty County had 25.2% turnout for the election, as 14,786 of 58,670 active voters turned out either in person or via mail-in ballot,

With voters giving him four more years, Heard said that his priorities will be housing and boosting the creation and retention of small businesses.

“The first focus will be affordable housing,” he said. “We’re committed to working with small businesses to create some type of revolving loan fund to help them to sustain as well as grow.

“Third (is) how to grow Albany State (University) and Albany Tech into a college town. How do we make sure that we move the needle in getting them more connected to the community and the community more connected to them? I think a good part of our growth is in growing those institutions.”

The chairman said that he is willing to listen to any commissioner or citizen about issues and solutions, whether or not they agree with his views.

“I want to thank the voters, all who went out to vote, no matter who they voted for,” he said. “I think democracy works best when all are (involved).”

Anthony “A.J.” Patterson emerged in County Commission District 4 to earn the right to be the Democratic challenger to incumbent Republican Commissioner Russell Gray, who did not face an opponent Tuesday. Patterson received 1,013 votes, or 73.46%, in the primary while Al Wynn received 366 votes, or 26.54%.

County Commissioner Victor Edwards, a Democrat, did not face any opposition in the primary and has no Republican opponent in the fall.

School Board incumbents Norma Gaines Heath in District 2 and Dean Phinazee, both Democrats, also will return to office in 2027. They have no Republican opponent in the fall.

Brown, who was making his first run for political office, was able to fend off a runoff by coming in with 53.81% of the vote in the unofficial tally. Former Camilla City Council member Corey Morgan finished in second place with 28.19%, and Albany firefighter Tracy Taylor finished with 18% of the vote. 

With the disqualification earlier this month of Republican Terence Fowler Sr. due to a residency challenge, Brown will not face an opponent in the fall.

With the election over, the incoming senator said he is not planning to wait until January to begin his work in the district.

“The voters just really bought into our platform and positive message and the fact that we can do better in southwest Georgia, that we don’t just have talking points,” Brown said Tuesday. “We have detailed plans for every issue that affects southwest Georgia.

“We’re going to spend the next few weeks putting each piece of our platform into legislative language and go out into the district and tell voters what we plan to do on the first day of the next session.”

The major plank in that platform is the formation of a Georgia economic development bank that would provide capital for projects in rural parts of the state.

“First and foremost, we want the community behind a vision of progress,” Brown said.

District 12 includes Baker, Calhoun, Clay, Dougherty, Early, Miller, Mitchell, Quitman, Randolph, Stewart, Sumter, Terrell and Webster counties.

Dougherty County voters also approved the Floating Local Option Sales Tax (FLOST) referendum, with 7,659 voting yes and 6,886 voters casting ballots against the measure. The approval allows for the implementation of a 1% countywide sales tax geared toward reducing residential and business property taxes.

During a campaign appearance on Monday at Southwest Georgia Regional Airport, gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson urged voters to get out and vote on Tuesday and also for the runoff. 

Jackson finished second in the Tuesday primary, receiving 303,402 votes, or 32.52%, statewide to make it into the June 16 runoff contest against current Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who finished on top with 357,881 votes representing 38.36%. 

The two top contenders traded barbs in ads during the runup to the primary, and voters can likely expect more of the same over the coming weeks.

“I think that turns people off,” Jackson told a Herald reporter when asked about the negative campaign spots bombarding voters while watching television. “I don’t blame them. I knew I was going to get attacked … but I didn’t know you could make it up. When you tell lies about me, I’m going to tell the truth about you.”

As a businessman, the candidate said he would use that experience to assist the state’s farmers. Agriculture is the state’s largest industry, and the war in Iran has hit farmers particularly hard by driving up the costs of diesel and fertilizer.

“I am in the position (where) I can help our farmers,” Jackson said “Not only farmers but rural Georgia. It’s a business. It’s not a political solution. I want to create a lot of jobs in tech in smaller towns.”

Virginia Blake, who was among the area residents who attended Jackson’s event with husband Calvin Blake, said they were both impressed with the candidate.

“I like how he knows what it’s like to be poor,” she said. “We’ve been doing a lot of research on him. People like that know how to help people.”