July 23, 2008
THE DAWSONVILLE ADVERTISER
“Recapping the ’08 Election”
By Sharon Thomas
The Primaries are a week past and the results are official. Here in Dawson County the races were one-sided with no Democrats. Amos Amerson will be returning to the Georgia State House of Representatives after defeating Steve Gooch by a margin of 63 percent to 37. The Dawson County Board of Commissioners will be welcoming a new face, in James Swafford who defeated Terri Tragesser 67 percent to 33. Julie Hughes Nix retained her seat on the Board of Commissioners after defeating Thayer Spencer 77 percent to 23. Jennifer Burt will remain the Probate Judge of Dawson after defeating Henry Young 73 percent to 27 and Lisa Thurmond will be Dawson’s new Chief Magistrate Judge after taking over 50 percent of the vote in a three-way race.
The Republican Party held their election night results get-together at the Bowen Art Center on election night. Dawson County Republican Chairman Clint Smith greeted guests and candidates alike as they entered.
Clint Smith led the invocation as election night coincided with the monthly meeting. As more guests and candidates arrived Smith apprised the time and predicted that election results would be soon forthcoming. A screen had been set up in the main meeting room and a computer monitor was set up to show the precinct counts as they came in.
The guests and candidates enjoyed conversation, predictions, food and art as they awaited election results. At about 4:00 p.m. the elections board had stated that the voter turnout was light, around 20%.
Steve and Shannon Gooch arrived around 8:00 and met with friends and supporters. The Gooch’s are expecting their third child in about two weeks. As numbers began to come in several people were outside speaking on cell phones and getting numbers from other counties. Amos Amerson left around 8:30 presumably to head for his headquarters in Dahlonega.
Around 9:00 people began to drift from the Bowen Center as the precincts had all reported except one as there had been a computer glitch. Some candidates in attendance were disappointed but some newcomers were happy with the number of votes that they’d received as first-run candidates. Thayer Spencer is looking forward to running again in the future and was delighted with the number of votes that he received.
It was a light voter turnout but the Republicans gathered at the Bowen Arts Center seemed satisfied with the results. District 4 incumbent and winner Julie Hughes Nix is “excited about four more years and is looking forward to working with the people of Dawson County to make and reach goals and to work hard for Dawson County”. Becky Holbrook, Nix’s campaign manager, and Kiwanis Club president, received a special thank you from Nix and for all of her workers and supporters and said that she “appreciates all of the support from Dawson County and that her campaign groups are dedicated and are very appreciated”.
James Swafford, District 2 Commission winner, thanks all of his supporters of his campaign “for their support and campaign commitment and for their vote of confidence on Tuesday. He congratulated Terri Tragesser on a good race. He also appreciates “the hard work of his campaign and that the county recognized his efforts that he put into the race”.
