Incumbent Ewell Lyle wins re-election to Dougherty County Commission

ALBANY — Democratic challenger Patrick Garner’s 71-vote advantage in early voting was not enough to overcome incumbent Republican Dougherty County Commissioner Ewell Lyle’s strong election-day showing as Lyle retained his District 4 seat on the commission Tuesday in the general election.

With all four District 4 precincts, mailed-in absentee ballots, and early votes finally counted around 10:30 Tuesday night, Lyle scored a 2,187-1,698 victory over Garner. Lyle’s total was 56.26 percent of the overall vote.

“Finally,” Lyle said after getting the vote totals. “I’m surprised that it took this long for us to get the final totals, but it’s fantastic to get the official word. When you have to wait that long, your mind tends to play tricks on you.

“I said earlier that I felt like I’d been left out of the process in my first race because I ran unopposed. And while parts of this process were frustrating, I really enjoyed the competition of it. The campaigning, the forums … those kinds of things I honestly enjoyed.”

Lyle, who won a second term on the commission, had praise for his opponent after what at times was a heated battle.

“(Garner) worked hard in this race, so I give him credit,” the incumbent said. “This has been, overall, a pretty grueling campaign, more so mentally than physically. But this victory is sweet. This really reinforces my faith in the process.”

Lyle won in three of the four District 4 precincts on Tuesday, outpolling Garner 410-261 in the Palmyra Methodist Church precinct, 419-247 in the Covenant Presbyterian Church precinct and a convincing 504-257 in the Merry Acres Middle School precinct.

Garner, a professor of English at Darton State College who was making his first run for political office, outpolled Lyle 347-309 in the Sherwood Elementary School precinct.

Lyle had a 100-50 advantage in absentee mail-in ballots, but Garner scored a 466-395 advantage in absentee, in-person voting.

“I will continue to monitor the vote totals, but if (Lyle) wins, I’ll be the first to congratulate him,” a gracious Garner said before final results were released. “When I saw the results from the (2012 presidential election) and saw that President Obama carried Dougherty County with 70 percent of the vote, I mistakenly assumed that the county was overwhelmingly Democratic throughout. I soon realized that wasn’t the case in District 4.

“I tried my best to appeal to Republicans throughout my campaign, but it looks like it wasn’t enough. I can say that I gave it 100 percent, though.”

With his victory, Lyle joins holdovers Lamar Hudgins (District 1) , John Hayes (District 2) and Clinton Johnson (District 3) on the seven-member board. Chris Cohilas will assume the commission chairmanship, replacing long-time Chair Jeff Sinyard, at the start of the new year, while Anthony Jones and Harry James will serve in the District 6 and District 5 seats, respectively.

James had no opposition in a special election called to fill the District 5 seat when its occupant, Gloria Gaines, gave up her position to challenge Cohilas for the commission chairmanship. Jones defeated the county’s longest-serving commissioner, Jack Stone, in the May 20 Democratic primary.