Oconee County’s Williams Will Get More Difficult District to Defend As Result of Reapportionment

Chuck Williams, elected just last month in the heavily Republican 113th House District, will find himself in a somewhat more competitive district in 2012 should he decide to seek reelection.

He also will find it considerably more difficult logistically, and more expensive, to campaign in the district the House of Representatives is likely to hand him.

In the July 19 runoff for the special election to fill the vacant seat in the 113th, Williams got 62.4 percent of the votes against Democratic candidate Dan Matthews.

That was in a district that split its vote in the 2010 gubernatorial race 65.6 percent for Republican Nathan Deal and 34.4 percent for Democrat Roy Barnes.

Voters in the new district that will replace Williams’ current district gave 58.2 percent of their votes to Deal, who was elected governor, and 41.8 percent of their votes to Barnes, according to data released by the legislative reapportionment committees last Friday.

For more analysis of the proposed changes, go to Oconee County Observations.