Keisha Waites made it to an Aug. 5 runoff after taking second in a crowded field for House District 61 while Kevin Clark lost his bid for state Senate District 2. (File photos)
Lesbian candidate advances to Georgia House runoff Gay activist loses Senate bid from Savannah
Keisha Waites is one step closer to making history as she enters a runoff for state House District 61, after finishing second by a handful of votes behind her closest rival, Ralph Long III.
With absentee and provisional ballots left to be counted, Waites and Long appeared to be in a dead heat ahead of the rest of a six-person field racing to replace long term Rep. Bob Holmes (D-Atlanta). With 83 percent of precincts reporting at press time, Waites had garnered 916 votes for 34.5 percent of the vote to Long’s 962 votes, or 36.2 percent.
“I don’t like to call it a win, I think it’s the first step toward victory,” Waites said. “We have made a decision we are not celebrating anything until we seal the deal.”
Waites would be the second lesbian elected to the state legislature, and Georgia’s first openly gay African-American state lawmaker. She will face Long again on Aug. 5 in a runoff. Long and Waites easily outdistanced Daniel A. Blackman, Edith Ladipo, Paul Lockhart Sr. and Tony M.L. McCann.
Long was one of the first to announce his campaign and said he is happy to pull within a few votes of Waites, who he considered the frontrunner due to her previous campaigning in the area that includes parts of East Point and southwest Atlanta.
“I’m very pleased that I was very able to do at least par with her. And that was due to the efforts to my wife and my supporters,” he said.
Both candidates boast similar backgrounds in the housing industry, Waites as a former mortgage broker and Long as a real estate broker. And both want to address transportation, foreclosures and economic development in District 61.
Georgia Equality endorsed Waites for the first time this year after she ran five previous unsuccessful campaigns.
“She’s been running a good campaign and she’s reaching the people who are likely to vote,” said Allen Thornell, interim political director of Georgia Equality.
Currently Waites and Georgia Equality are in discussions to determine how to support her in the runoff. During the primary, Thornell helped steer donors to Waites and GE volunteers did some phone banking for her.
Long said he is a supporter of gay rights and regrets not having the chance to compete for the endorsement of the state’s largest gay political group.
“I know I’m going to pay a price for that, especially with the conservative people in my neighborhood,” Long said of supporting gay rights. “We have bigger issues than trying to get into someone’s house and figure out what’s going on with them.”
While Georgia Equality typically sends out questionnaires to determine who the organization will support, Thornell said they don’t always follow that procedure. In races where a candidate like Waites has a history with the organization, Georgia Equality will sometimes endorse without issuing a questionnaire to all of the competitors.
With three weeks before the Aug. 5 runoff, both sides need to consolidate their support. Waites is working to expand and diversify her campaign while looking to the traditional gay support network for additional help.
“We’re going to reach out to everyone, and certainly Midtown infrastructure is something that we are looking to for help,” Waites said. “We’re looking to reach out inside the district and across the state. We are running an inclusive campaign.”
Both candidates have a similar style of campaigning. Long and Waites are walking the district going door-to-door looking for votes. They are both open to a debate, but have not scheduled one before the runoff.
Georgia Equality board member Kevin Clark finished last in a three-person race for state Senate District 2, which was left open when Sen. Regina Thomas (D-Savannah) left to challenge U.S. Rep. John Barrow for the 12th Congressional District.
“I’m full of joy,” Clark said. “It is obviously not the result I intended. I intended to force a runoff and that clearly didn’t happen.
“This was a groundbreaking campaign in so many ways, the first [openly gay man] running [for state office] outside of Atlanta, the first to run for a Senate district in the state,” he added.
Rep. Lester Jackson (D-Savannah) was able to parlay the political machine he developed in almost 10 years in the state House and took 70 percent of the vote against Bettye Anne Battiste, who garnered 19 percent, and Clark, who received 10 percent.
As he drove around the district removing his campaign signs July 16, Clark said he is already considering his future options. He said he is exploring creating a public information foundation and would not rule out running for office again, potentially against Jackson in two years.
State Rep. Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates), the first and currently only openly gay member of the General Assembly, did not face opposition this year.
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