By Mark Woolsey

The special election in Georgia state senate district 35 will head to a runoff next month.

In unofficial totals from Tuesday’s voting, former Cobb County School Board member Dr. Jaha Howard was the leading vote getter in the race to replace former state senator Jason Esteves, who stepped away to focus on his gubernatorial campaign. Former State Rep. Roger Bruce finished second.

Howard, a Democrat, amassed 5,132 votes, capturing 32.63 percent of the total vote. Fellow Democrat Bruce compiled 3,992 votes for 25.37 percent of the total. Since no candidate In the six-person field reached the 50 percent hashmark, Howard and Bruce are apparently headed for a Dec.16 runoff.

The remaining four candidates ran substantially behind. Another Democrat, Erica-Denise Solomon picked up 2,720 votes for just over 17 percent of the total. The sole Republican in the contest, Josh Tolbert, also polled north of 17 percent , gathering 2,765.

The other two candidates, Democrat John D. Williams and Independent Corenza Morris, drew 832 and 290 votes, respectively.

Howard is a pediatric dentist who served one term on the Cobb County Board of Education. He also mounted campaigns for Cobb County Commission District 2 and State School Superintendent.

Bruce served as a State Representative in District 61 covering parts of Fulton and Cobb Counties from  2003 until he briefly retired in 2023.