Three lesbian lawmakers return to Ga. General Assembly

In Lawrenceville’s House District 101, gay Democrat Tim Swiney also appears to have failed to knock out Republican Rep. Valerie Clark. Votes from Gwinnett County were slow to come in on Tuesday night, but at 11:36 p.m., Swiney had 43.73 percent of the vote compared to 56.27 percent for Clark.

An openly gay man has never been elected to the state legislature. State Rep. Rashad Taylor (D-Atlanta) came out whle in office, but lost to incumbent Pat Gardner (D-Atlanta) in the July primary.

Two other openly gay candidates also fell short in Tuesday’s election. With 124 of 159 counties reporting, Libertarian Brad Ploeger had less than 5 percent of the statewide vote in his long-shot Libertarian bid for Public Service Commission, losing to Republican incumbent Chuck Eaton.

In Rome, Ga., gay Democrat Gary Harrell also was unsuccessful in his bid for a seat on the Floyd County Commission.

With all precincts reporting, unofficial results from the Rome Election Office showed Harrell with 10,653 votes (34.58 percent) for the Post 2 seat, compared to 20,130 (65.33 percent) for Republican incumbent Garry E. Fricks.

 

Top photo: Simone Bell (file photo)