Has everyone taken a breath yet? Yes? No?

I know I haven’t. This year’s election was one of the more intriguing ones in recent memory. Definitely the most intriguing in my lifetime for sure.

I will have a lot more thoughts on the new President-elect Donald Trump and the downfall of vice president Kamala Harris’ campaign at another time. Today, I want to focus on the local elections.

There were plenty of twists and turns in this year’s election. Some that even caught me by surprise. Let’s get into it.

Commissioner races turn out as predicted

Going into the election, I expected both Republicans to win the commission seats. That’s exactly what happened when Stan Edwards was re-elected to the District 1 seat and when LeAnne Long won the District 5 seat.

Looking in District 1, it was clear that Edwards has a strong connection with his constituents. To date, there have been no major controversies when it comes to his time in office, and has remained out of the limelight for the most part. I also think he built up a ton of goodwill when he had to step in as acting chair for the last few months.

I also think Williams held a solid campaign, too. She is somewhat of a controversial figure for many reasons, but I think she did a great job of keeping that out of her campaign. It was always going to be an uphill battle, but she battled well.

Much like Edwards, I expected Long to win this seat simply due to her connection with her constituency. During the Kappa Koffeehouse Forum, Long constantly called back to what District 5 wants (or in that case, what they don’t want). That is something that DaCosta failed to do, unfortunately.

Speaking of DaCosta, I was very impressed with his later work in his campaign. Particularly at the forum, he proved that the stage was not too bright and held his own with Long during the forum. Should DaCosta decide to continue in politics, I think he’s got a good future in it.

Sheriff’s race comes as a bit of a surprise, but not for what you may think

In the most contentious race of the four, Ezell Brown prevailed at the ballot box to serve a fifth term as Sheriff. I expected Brown to hold onto this seat, due to his strong performances at the ballot box in the past.

But he didn’t just hold on, he essentially dominated.

To be fair to his challenger Justin Hipps, I thought his campaign was the strongest of any of the four challengers, perhaps maybe even the strongest from the Republican party. His approach to social media, clear direction on his policies and connection with his supporters gave the notion that he would have a fair chance to unseat the longtime sheriff. 

Going into this race, I felt he was going to keep it close with Brown, something that hadn’t been done in some time. Except that didn’t happen.

Why? I think it boils down to Brown’s community connection. The current and future sheriff is practically a household name in Newton County and has long been a familiar face for years. I personally know of some hardcore Republicans who back Brown all the way. That’s not by accident.

Though I thought Hipps’ campaign would end in a closer result, ethos within a community cannot be built overnight. That is what put Brown over the mark in this one.

Coroner’s race comes as most interesting moving forward

For Tommy Davis, a longtime community connection did not end in the same result, as he lost to challenger Kimberly Griggs.

This left a lot on social media stunned about the result. I was a bit stunned myself. I expected Davis to win this race.

There is absolutely no doubt that Davis was the more experienced of the two candidates. I also think when it came to overall campaigning and public performances that Davis won in that category.  Griggs did not perform as strong as she could have at the Kappa Koffeehouse Forum. Nor did I think she performed well during her interview with the Chamber of Commerce.

But ultimately voters wanted to go in a different direction. In 2020, Davis lost the election to the Democratic candidate in a very similar manner. Voters wanted change then, they wanted change now. I think it’s really just that simple.

Now here’s the real challenge for some of the naysayers: Accept Kimberly Griggs as Newton County’s new coroner and give her a chance.

I’ve been seeing a lot of people on social media state that she is not qualified for the coroner spot. For those people, I implore you to look up the requirements to be a coroner in Georgia. You may be quite surprised.

I also have seen a lot of folks say that she’ll be a second-coming of the former coroner in 2020. Check out what she said in our election questionnaire last month.

Q: The 2020 election for this position ultimately ended up with the winner leaving office early. What do you say to anyone that may have concerns of history repeating itself? 

A: I am not her! I am qualified, educated, skilled, informed and ready to serve my community.

I would be inclined to agree with her about this one. It is completely unfair to compare what she will do to someone who is not her. The narrative that she’ll be a second coming of someone that isn’t her is just not right.

I hope that she’ll be given a proper chance from her opposition to succeed. It is in the best interest of the county to do so.

Evan Newton is the Managing Editor of The Covington News. He can be reached at enewton@covnews.com.