Runoff Set For Franklin Seat

NORTHEAST COBB — The five-person race to replace the late state Rep. Bobby Franklin (R-east Cobb) is now down to two.

Voters in a special election Tuesday chose SunTrust finance manager John Carson and former state Sen. Robert Lamutt to square off in an Oct. 18 runoff.

To avoid a runoff, a candidate needed to get more than 50 percent of the vote. None did.

Unofficial results from the Cobb Board of Elections show that Carson received 801 votes, or 35.63 percent, while Lamutt received 699 votes, or 31.09 percent.

Carson, who celebrated Tuesday night with a group of about a dozen people at O’Charley’s off Shallowford Road, said he was both humbled and excited to finish in first place.

“We have been running a grassroots campaign, and to go from a complete unknown to first in the election results is overwhelming,” Carson said. “Our campaign message has and continues to be new, conservative leadership over the career politicians.”

Carson said his strategy going forward is to continue to run a grassroots campaign to reach as many voters as possible.

Carson said he has spent about $13,000 to date.

“On the issues, it comes down to the new, conservative leader we can trust to cut taxes, reduce spending, create jobs and protect our values,” he said. “I relied upon my family, my supporters, my faith and a lot of hard work to get me over the edge tonight.”

Lamutt celebrated with a group of about 50 at Paradise Grille off Sandy Plains Road.

“Truth is, is that we survived attacks by all four of them and by various and sundry other groups and by some of the media, and now it’s time for a true one-on-one comparison between the two of us, because nobody knows anything about him, nobody knows where he’s from, how long he’s lived in the district or what he really believes about things, and I think it will be fun to have a clean, straight comparison, as compared to just everybody shoot at Robert,” Lamutt said.

Lamutt is referring to media reports detailing several liens worth $136,500 that the IRS filed against him for taxes owed by his business.

“The reality is that anybody who is not struggling in this economy probably doesn’t understand what most of the people in this country are going through,” Lamutt said.

Lamutt said he’s spent about $20,000 to $25,000 and expects to spend around the same for the runoff.

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