Former House Speaker Ralston’s widow loses in runoff for his seat

♦ Several other special elections also took place for state seats.

A banker from Blue Ridge defeated the widow of former Georgia House Speaker David Ralston Tuesday in a runoff election for Ralston’s Northwest Georgia House seat.

Republican Johnny Chastain captured 52.8% of the vote to 47.2% for Sheree Ralston, according to unofficial results.

The seat became vacant when Ralston died in November at the age of 68. He had served as House speaker for a dozen years.

Chastain and Sheree Ralston were the top two vote getters in a special election in early January. But the race was forced into a runoff when neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote.

Several other special elections for vacant seats in the General Assembly also took place on Tuesday.

Former state Rep. Sam Watson, R-moultrie, easily won a seat in the Georgia Senate over two other candidates. Watson declared for the Senate after former Sen. Dean Burke, R-bainbridge, took a position as chief medical officer with the state Department of Community Health.

Colquitt County Administrator Charles “Chas” Cannon was elected to succeed Watson in the House. Cannon, a Republican, ran unopposed.

The other special election contested on Tuesday won’t be decided until a Feb. 28 runoff. Republicans Holt Persinger and Charlie Chase received the most votes in a six-way race for the House District 119 seat.

Persinger, a landscape architect from Winder, received 27.9% of the vote to 25.5% for Chase, a contractor also from Winder.

The seat opened up after then-rep.-elect Danny Rampey was arrested in December and charged with stealing prescription drugs from an assisted living complex he was managing in Winder.