Lisa Cupid will likely be the only new member of the Cobb Board of Commissioners after November's election, as well as its only Democrat.
With all 35 precincts reporting 4,053 votes, the 35-year-old law and public administration student at Georgia State gained 75.6 percent in Tuesday's Democratic runoff for the Southwest Cobb District 4 commission seat. The incumbent, real estate broker Woody Thompson, had the remaining 24.4 percent.
Since no Republicans qualified for the seat, it appears that Cupid will be the only candidate on the ballot in November, nearly guaranteeing her the victory.
Set to graduate in December, Cupid, of Austell, is the community facilitator for the Austell Community Partnership. She also has a mechanical engineering degree from Georgia Tech.
Her background includes work with metro Atlanta’s 15 Chambers of Commerce, in the Governor’s Office, and as a policy analyst researcher.
Cupid moved to South Cobb 10 years ago when she married her Georgia Tech sweetheart, Craig Cupid. They have two sons, 3-year-old Nehemiah and 1-year-old Noah.
Thompson, 65, first joined the commission as a Republican in 1997 to 2004, when he was defeated by Democrat Annette Kesting. Switching to the Democratic party, Thompson then beat her in 2008.
In the July 31 primary, Cupid gained 40 percent of the vote to Thompson's 27 percent. They were among a field of six Democrats, so since neither gained 50 percent plus one, they moved on to a runoff as the top two vote-getters.
Check back with Patch for continuing updates on the runoff elections.
Can Ms Cupid do better? I hope and pray that she can.
replied, " I can't beat a return but I can beat a charge that will wake up the dead." Lisa WILL get the job done. Enough of the experience dribble. Remember it was the experienced, so called professionals that built the Titanic, it was amateurs that built the Ark. Ok! We have experience in Washington and what is it doing for us? A wise old politician once said, when your time is up and the people come after you, you run and get out in the front, strut proudly and make it look like a parade. And as for the previous commish, Ms. K, who left so much to be desired, that is exactly why we have elections. Like a good game of bid whisk, you make them rise and fly. Better days ahead for all of District 4 folks, trust me.
Primary Run-off elections are an interesting thing. Here we had two situations where two Repubs were vying for Commission Chair with no Dem's in the wings. South Cobb had two Dems vying for the Commission seat with no Republicans running for that seat. Whoever wins in the Primary Run-Off is now the new Chair and Commissioner, respectively. So, one shows up at the polls, has to vote as they did in the Primaries. In my case, I took the Democratic ballot in the Primary so I could vote for my County Commissioner. In the run-off, I had to choose the same party ballot. By doing so, as a South Cobb resident, I was not permitted to vote or have a say who in the Commission Chair race. I don't know why the run-off elections can not be set up where if a voter, depending on their location in the county, can vote for candiates from another Party, if the run-off is the final factor in who wins that race. Yes, I know, it's the law. But, IMV, on the County level, it's not so much about voting along party lines as it is voting for the best person for the job. Not eloquently put, but I hope you get my point.
We have a lot of work ahead of us, but as long as we have multiple people shouldering the task we can be much more successful than one person trying to do this alone! And yes, we have way too many educated, caring, and concerned people to expect anything less than what people out here deserve. The more people I meet the more humbled I am on all the talent and resources we have here. Still, its not just about education. There are also a lot of educated fools in this world. I chose my academic path for many reasons beyond this post but know that many people have found great personal and professional success in the school of hard knocks. I look forward to working with you and being of service!
Geneva Vanderhorst STING, Inc.