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By Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — Dougherty County voters didn’t turn out in large numbers for Tuesday’s primary and nonpartisan elections, but those who did cast ballots made it perfectly clear who their favorites were in the three contested local races.

Gloria Gaines was elected to return to her familiar District 5 seat on the Dougherty County Commission; incumbent Coroner Michael Fowler easily retained his position, and retired educator Geraldine West Hudley persevered in a sometimes rancorous campaign to claim the at-large seat on the Dougherty County School Board.

Each of the victors secured 62 percent or more of the total vote in their races.

In a contest that grew particularly testy over the final two weeks of the campaign, Hudley earned 6,592 votes to challenger Susie Ealum’s 4,043. Hudley’s total was 62 percent of the votes cast.

A battle over CRCT test scores that Ealum said showed Hudley had not, as she’d claimed, “turned around” Radium Middle School when Hudley served as principal there, seemed to spark the passion of supporters for the former educator. Both she and Ealum, a Marine captain, were first-time candidates.

“I’m feeling well … very, very well this morning,” Hudley said Wednesday. “I’ve been in this kind of position before where I faced challenges, but I find those kinds of experiences wonderful to foster growth and learning. Part of our journey in life is to find ways that we can positively impact our community. I think I’m in a position to do that now moreso than ever.

“I met so many people I had not previously known during my campaign, and the support they expressed to me was such a blessing. I feel that we all now have an opportunity to grow together, to build collaborative teams, to bridge gaps that exist. I’m looking forward to focusing on challenges that face our school system, things like our overall preparedness, our systemwide readiness, our efforts to reduce grade retention.”

The race for the coroner’s office, which pitted incumbent Michael Fowler against Hudley’s son, Donchester Johnson, offered very little drama.

Fowler scored overwhelming victories in each precinct, racking up 8,582 votes, 82 percent of those cast, to Johnson’s 1,922. That victory margin convinced the county’s Democratic coroner he is doing things right.

“Hey, I worked hard for this,” Fowler said after election returns were finalized. “But I think the results show that the people in Dougherty County know who they want in office. They know I have the experience to do this job the way it’s supposed to be done.

“I plan on continuing business as usual in my second term. I’ll continue to work with students and kids in the forensics field and try to help them find jobs in this profession once they receive their education. I’ll also continue to produce public service messages to warn our kids about the dangers they face.”

Voters in County Commission District 5 decided they preferred Gaines over incumbent Harry James, as those two squared off for the second time in their political careers. Gaines, who gave up her seat on the commission for an unsuccessful run against Chris Cohilas for the commission chairmanship two years ago, reclaimed the District 5 post with a convincing 1,367-767 victory over James. The 64-36 percent vote differential was surprising to many who had expected a close battle.

Gaines beat James 966-560 at the ballot box Tuesday and scored an convincing 398-207 margin in early voting.

“I am grateful to my neighbors and friends for their trust and look forward to representing District 5 on the Dougherty County Board of Commissioners,” Gaines said in an email to The Herald Wednesday morning.

Only slightly more than a quarter of Dougherty County’s registered voters, 12,160 of 43,830 (27.74 percent), voted in the primaries.

“Things went about as well as expected, we really had no major hiccups,” Dougherty Elections Supervisor Ginger Nickerson said Wednesday. “Overall, it was a good day, except for the disappointing turnout. I really thought with the races we had on the ballot that there would be more voters to come out.”

Terry Lewis contributed to the report.