Liberty County’s 1st District seat on the county commission will have a new representative.
Former Walthourville mayor Larry Baker defeated longtime incumbent Marion Stevens in Tuesday night’s Democrat primary runoff, taking nearly 52% of the vote.
Baker outpolled Stevens 574-531 and will face Republican Michael Cook in the November general election.
“This journey was bigger than politics,” Baker said. “It was about people, about fairness, transparency and building a better future for District 1.”
Baker and Stevens were in the runoff after neither captured 50% plus one of the votes cast in the May general primary. Former Midway City Council member Stanley Brown was third and did not qualify for the runoff.
Stevens was one of the two longest-serving commissioners currently in office, having first taken his oath in 1999.
Baker had a slim lead, 305-285, in advance voting and also scratched out a thin margin on election day, getting 229 votes to Stevens’ 221. Baker also got 40 of the 65 absentee or mail-in votes.
Baker expressed his gratitude to his supporters and the 1st District voters.
“Thank you for trusting me, believing in the vision, and standing with me every step of the way,” he said. “Thank you to everyone who made phone calls, shared flyers, spread the message, attended events and stood proudly beside me. Because of you, our campaign was built on unity, hope, and a desire to see District 1 move forward together.” Turnout for the runoff was low, at 10.1%. Turnout for the primary was 23.2%.
There were 2,342 votes cast in early voting, and 2,512 total votes made before the precinct polls opened Tuesday. That total was less than half of the votes cast in advance voting and mail-in voting — 5,448 — for the general primary.
There were more votes cast in advance voting than on Tuesday’s election day, with 2,006.
Also in the Democrat runoff, Liberty County voters backed Joyce Marie Griggs over Amanda Hollowell for the U.S. House 1st
District seat by a whopping 34%, with Griggs capturing 1,759 votes to Hollowell’s 1,077.
Josh McLaurin also got a big win in Liberty for the Democrats’ nod for lieutenant governor, getting 57.7% of the votes cast in the county over Nabilah Parkes. Penny Brown Reynolds got 58.6% of the votes over Dana Barrett for secretary of state and Liberty votes also solidly backed Keisha Sean Waites, with 67.4% of the votes against DeAndre Mathis for the Democrat nomination for insurance commissioner. Nikki Porcher got 62.7% of Liberty County votes over Michelle Michi Sanchez in her bid to be the next labor commissioner.
Liberty County voters backed Mike Collins in his bid for the U.S. Senate in his runoff against Derek Dooley, with 61.5% of the vote. Rick Jackson also garnered 51.9% of Liberty’s Republican votes against Burt Jones in the runoff for the nomination for governor.
Fred “Bubba” Longgrear got 58.2% of the Liberty County votes in the Republican runoff for the state school superintendent nomination over incumbent Richard Woods.
