By Elliott Brack
Editor and publisher, GwinnettForum
MAY 25, 2018 | For 34 years, Gwinnett has been a largely Republican County. However, judging from the turnout in the 2018 primary, the county may be moving toward more Democrats in office.
Not only that, remember that in the 2014 presidential election, Gwinnett went for Hillary Clinton, as 166,153 votes went to Ms. Clinton and 146,989 voted for President Trump. However, in other Gwinnett races in 2014, the Republicans continued to out-vote Democrats.
But that trend is in danger, you could say from results of the 2018 primary. In every head-to-head race throughout the county, save one, more Democratic votes were counted than Republican votes.
For instance, in the race for governor, the total Democratic votes in Gwinnett was 40,535, compared to 36,194 votes for the Republicans. On and on down the list, the Democrats were in the majority of the votes cast in every race, except one. That was the District 2 school board race, where Republicans held the majority, 6,452 to 6,095.
Check out the other races in this accompanying table.
Democrats controlled Gwinnett County for years, up until 1984. That was the year that Republicans first outpolled Democrats. That year there were 18 offices open in Gwinnett County. One Democrat, the county Probate Judge Alton Tucker, was unopposed, and went back into office. However, in the other 17 races, Republicans captured every office. And since 1984, the Republican Party has been by far the dominant political party in Gwinnett County.
However, remember this: There were 500,308 people registered to vote. But only 80,602 voted, for a puny turnout of only 16 percent. Perhaps we should limit making big projections from such a low primary turnout.
So, in the General Election, will Republican domination continue? Or will the Democrats have the viable candidates to make Gwinnett competitive? Come November, we’ll find out.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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