Voters turned up at polls across Georgia and the North Gwinnett/South Hall area to cast their votes. Some 3,957,598 or 56.92% of registered voters state-wide cast their ballots for the Nov. 8, 2022, general election. In Gwinnett County, 299,931 or 53.91% of registered voters showed up to vote in this election.
The U.S. Senate race between incumbent Rev. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker will face a runoff election on Dec. 6, 2022. Warnock received 49.41% of the total votes while Walker received 48.52%. Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver received 2.07% of the total votes.
Republicans swept the state-wide races including the highly publicized Governor’s race with incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp receiving 53.44% of the total votes while his Democrat challenger Stacey Abrams got 45.85% of the total number of votes.
Locally, Sen. Clint Dixon, a Republican, held onto his state senate seat in District 45 with 61.30% of the total votes cast while Democrat challenger, Matielyn Jones got 38.70% of the votes. District 45 stretches from Buford over to Dacula in Gwinnett County.
“I feel amazing,” Sen. Dixon said on his recent re-election win. “Every election is overwhelming and you build up to election night. We were excited about redistricting hoping it (District 45) would lean a little more Republican. We (his campaign) ran the whole time like we were 20 points behind so we are very excited about the win. We pushed hard all the way to the end and are very excited to push forward. We want to continue to put families first here in Gwinnett County and protect the conservative values that built Gwinnett County.”
Newcomer to the state-level politics was State House District 103 candidate Republican Soo Hong. Her district is primarily the city of Buford and the immediate surrounding area including the area just south of Buford Drive at the Mall of Georgia. She received 61.40% of the total votes compared to 38.60% that her opponent, Democrat Ernie Anaya received.
“I am super excited,” Hong said. “We (her campaign) have worked really hard and we went out door-to-door meeting the people in our district. I am ready to get to work and I hope I can continue to serve the people in my community.”
A Gwinnett County Commission seat was flipped in the election from Democrat to Republican when local small business owner Matthew Holtkamp defeated incumbent Marlene Fosque by a margin of 10,924 votes.
“There’s so much work that we put into this campaign, so many volunteers that supported me and so many that gave to my campaign,” Holtkamp said. “It is so very humbling to step out try to serve our community and have so many people just immediately jump behind me and push me along and help me along giving me advice. I want to keep working for this community because I am so thankful for everything I have received here. So I want to make sure that future generations have that same opportunity so I will just keep working for Gwinnett County.”
Voters inside the city limits of Buford saw an extra question on their ballots, “Shall the issuance of licenses for the package sale of distilled spirits be approved?”
This passed by a majority vote of 71.41% which will make way for the possibility of a liquor store within the city limits of Buford.
Below are the results of all of the races important to the residents of the North Gwinnett Voice’s coverage area. All precincts have been reported.
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