Voters in
two state legislative districts ushered in new representatives
Tuesday night.
With 55 percent of the vote, Republican David Shafer easily
won a four-way race to replace Billy Ray in the 48th District,
Georgia's largest Senate district. In Cherokee County, Diane
Grasse beat out Sheila Auffrey in a runoff to take the 16th
House District seat.
Shafer, 36, the former executive director of the state GOP,
defeated former Rep. Bobby Reese, communications consultant
J.D. Elliott and mortgage banker Nathan Warnock in the 48th
District special election. Reese got 34 percent of the vote,
Elliott 7 percent and Warnock 4 percent.
Shafer, whose campaign focused on stopping overdevelopment,
said the election wasn't a personal victory.
"It's a victory for our message of doing everything we can
to protect our quality of life," he said.
The district, which covers north-central Gwinnett and parts
of Forsyth and Fulton counties, has more than 310,000
residents. Ray resigned last month to become a Gwinnett
Superior Court judge. Shafer, of Duluth, will serve the
remaining 10 1/2 months of Ray's term.
Cherokee County's Grasse, 47, was excited about her win.
"Who wouldn't feel great?" she said Tuesday night.
A Republican, she will replace Steve Stancil, who resigned
in a bid to become Georgia's first Republican lieutenant
governor. Grasse won 57 percent of the voters, and Auffrey 43
percent.
The district covers part of Cherokee County.
Grasse, a change management consultant with Compaq Computer
Corp., was thrown into a rematch with Auffrey after a Jan. 22
special election.
Auffrey, Grasse and candidate Bryan Korff all competed for
the seat last month, but the close race forced Auffrey and
Grasse into Tuesday's runoff.
She hopes to get sworn in and take her seat in the General
Assembly by the end of the week.
Grasse will have to defend her newly won seat from
challengers in the November general election when candidates
in portions of the newly drawn district become eligible to
run.
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