Former Gwinnett County School Board Chairman Everton Blair won the Marcy Scott Everton Blair runoff, defeating Marcye Scott 53% to 47% to finish David Scott’s term in Georgia's 13th District. The result puts Blair on course to serve the rest of the seat’s current term after the special election moved from a crowded first round into Tuesday's runoff.
Blair’s win came after he trailed Marcye Scott 46% to 38% in the first round of voting last month. In July, Blair and Marcye Scott advanced from a crowded all-party special primary election after no candidate got a majority of the vote, forcing a runoff between the top two finishers.
Marcye Scott and Blair
Marcye Scott built her campaign around her family name and said she would “ensure the work already underway” continues. Blair, meanwhile, entered the runoff after losing the regularly scheduled primary to State Rep. Jasmine Clark, which limited the practical value of the special election win to the remainder of David Scott’s term.
That split result leaves Blair with a short stay in Washington, while Clark heads into the November election as the heavy favorite. The two contests for the same seat ran on different tracks, one to fill the current term and one to decide the next full term.
David Scott and Georgia's 13th District
David Scott died at age 80 on April 22 after more than two decades in Congress. He was the first Black chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, and the special election now determines who finishes the term he left behind.
Once Everton Blair and Aisha Wahab are sworn in, Republicans’ House majority will stand at 218-214, with one independent and two vacancies. For Blair, the runoff win settles the immediate question in Georgia's 13th District: who takes the seat now, even as the longer-term result is still headed toward November.
