Deffenbaugh wins Republican runoff for House seat

Dade County’s John Deffenbaugh beat Walker County’s Alan Painter on Tuesday, Aug. 21, in the Republican runoff for the Georgia House District 1 seat. On Nov. 6, Deffenbaugh will face Democrat Thomas McMahan in the general election. Deffenbaugh won 51 percent of the votes Tuesday: 1,876 votes for Deffenbaugh and 1,774 votes for Painter. Deffenbaugh watched the returns from the Dade County administration building in Trenton, where 75 percent (2,750 of 3,650) of the votes were cast. Deffenbaugh managed 300 more votes than Painter for Dade County voters. Dade County voters were supportive of Painter, where 69 percent of his votes came from. These voters also determined five runoff races in Dade County, includ- ing the race for sheriff. “I thank Dade County from the bottom of my heart for this show of support,” Painter said. He believes that the turnout should be greater in Walker County during a primary (or general) election in a two-way person race. About 900 citizens of Walker County made it to the polls Tuesday and 549 of those voters chose Painter. “This morning I have already have gotten messages from both sides of Lookout Mountain, asking me to consider to run again in 2014,” Painter said Wednesday. Painter said he will decide whether to run again in 2014 based on the voting record of the winner in November. Attempts to contact Deffenbaugh for comment were unsuccessful.