Democrat Matthews Ran Stronger in Runoff for Georgia House Seat Than in First Round of Voting

Democrat Dan Matthews, in his unsuccessful bid Tuesday to represent Oconee County and the rest of the 113th District in the Georgia General Assembly, outperformed his June 21 record by nearly 11 percentage points.

His 37.6 percent of the vote was only a bit lower than the 38.9 percent that Democrat Becky Vaughn achieved against incumbent Republican Bob Smith in 2006 and 10 points ahead of what Democrat Suzy Compere did against Republican Hank Huckaby in November of 2010.

Republican Chuck Williams won handily, with 62.4 percent of the vote, and it is hard to imagine what circumstances might have brought about a Democratic victory in the heavily Republican district.

Matthews’ gain during the second phase of the campaign suggests, however, that at least some people were paying attention to the campaign and not merely selecting the name on the touch screen based on party labels.

For more about Tuesday's vote, go to Oconee County Observations.