Jaha Howard, Jen Jordan headed for runoff in Georgia Senate District 6

Drawing of old-fashioned ballot box -- public domain, from Wikimedia Commons

In a hotly contested race that saw more than $1 million raised between the candidates, Democrats Dr. Jaha Howard and Jen Jordan are headed for a runoff.

With all precincts reported, Howard, a Dentist, had garnered 22.5 percent of the vote (5,398), while Jordan, an attorney, drew 24.4 percent (5,860). Since no candidate got more than 50 percent of the vote, the pair will now compete in an intra-party runoff on Dec. 5.

Both Howard and Jordan drew impressive fundraising totals that were among the top of the eight-candidate field. Howard, who ran unsuccessfully against Hunter Hill in 2016, reported $317,897.62 in total contributions, the most of any candidate, while Jordan raised $234,650.

The race was heavy on Republicans, with five running against three Democrats. The other candidates were attorney and business owner Leah Aldridge, (she drew 18.5 percent, or 4,427 votes), attorney Matt Bentley (11.2 percent, 2,692 votes), Smart Door & Delivery COO Kathy Eichenblatt (3 percent, 726 votes), Lavista Associates senior director Charlie Fiveash (16.8 percent, 4,022 votes), business consultant Leo Smith (1.3 percent, 299 votes) and marketing consultant Taos Wynn (2.3 percent, 560 votes).

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While attempts to reach Howard and Jordan for comment were unsuccessful, each carved out key issues that they focused on heavily during the campaign. Education was a big issue for Howard, an advocate of spending on public schools who spread his message through Facebook advertising, while Jordan emphasized raising Georgia’s minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, or giving individual cities the right to raise the minimum wage within their local jurisdictions.

Both Howard and Jordan will now have just under one month to make their case to voters to become the next District 6 Georgia state senator.

Here are campaign videos from the candidates:

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