The 2026 General Primary Elections and Nonpartisan Election concluded on Tuesday, May 19, and the winner of the only contested county-level race in Union County was Tony Hunter, the Incumbent for School Board District 2.
Currently in his fourth term, Hunter came out on top in the Republican contest with 3,360 votes, earning 56.06% of the turnout. Finishing second was John Davis with 24.62%, followed by Naveela Philbeck with 10.24% and Holly Jones with 9.08%.
Continue reading with a subscription.
North Georgia News — serving Union County since 1909.
$10 a month. Cancel anytime.
Outright winning a four-person race is an undeniable accomplishment for Hunter, who is grateful for the support of voters.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that showed up on election day to give me your vote of confidence,” Hunter said. “I am overwhelmed, knowing that my community approves the direction that Union County Schools has taken in the education of our students.
“I look forward to the continued service to my community and our education system being better tomorrow than it is today. #UnionUnited, #SuccessforAll.”
Both District 4 and District 5 School Board seats featured lone Republican qualifiers in Jonathan Alan Cook and Incumbent Patrick White, respectively.
And now that District 2 is decided, the results of the General Election in November are all but locked in, as no Democrats qualified to challenge the Republican nominees this year. So, Hunter, Cook and White are set to be sworn in to four-year terms on the School Board to start 2027.
All told, about 35% of the Union County electorate cast ballots in the May 19 elections for a turnout that lagged the last midterm primaries and Nonpartisan General Election in 2022, when 45% of the local electorate voted.
Still, Union County beat the statewide turnout of 28.2%, making the Top 10 for voter turnout among Georgia’s 159 counties. About 30% of the Union County electorate voted Republican, with roughly 5% voting for Democrats.
Of the other primary races participated in by Union Countians, only longtime Republican Incumbent Jeff Langley qualified unopposed and without a Democratic challenger for Enotah Judicial Circuit District Attorney, so he will win re-election in November as well.
For State House of Representatives District 8, Republican Incumbent Stan Gunter qualified unopposed this year, as did his Nov. 3 General Election opponent, Democrat Nick Mitchell.
North Georgia leans heavily Republican, so the race would appear to be an uphill challenge for Mitchell, who received just 2,122 votes in his uncontested primary compared with the 12,657 Republicans who voted in Gunter’s likewise uncontested primary.
Incumbent Andrew Clyde handily won his three-candidate primary with 75.97% of the vote to clinch the Republican nomination for U.S. House of Representatives District 9.
In the General Election, Clyde will be facing Democratic opponent Caitlyn Gegen, who won her primary with 59.99%. Of note, the U.S. House District 9 Democratic Primary featured about 50,000 fewer voters than the corresponding Republican Primary.
At the federal and state levels, several races failed to produce majority vote winners and will therefore be heading to primary runoff elections on June 16, with early voting to run Monday, June 8, through Friday, June 12, at the Voting Center located at 33 Roscoe Collins Drive.
“Because the turnaround is so fast, early voting for runoffs is shorter, usually the week immediately preceding the election,” according to http://georgia.gov/.
Once again, voters will need to select either a Republican or Democratic ballot, as these will be runoffs for the primary elections.
GOP runoff races in Union County will include Mike Jones and Derek Dooley for U.S. Senate; Burt Jones and Rick Jackson for Governor; John F. Kennedy and Greg Dolezal for Lieutenant Governor; Tim Fleming and Vernon Jones for Secretary of State; Richard Woods and Fred “Bubba” Longgrear for State School Superintendent; Josh Tolbert and Bobby Mehan for Georgia Public Service Commission District 5; and Philip Milam and Will Wade for State Senate District 51.
Democratic runoff races in Union County will include Josh McLaurin and Nabilah Parkes for Lieutenant Governor; Penny Brown Reynolds and Dana Barrett for Secretary of State; Keisha Sean Waites and Clarence Blalock for Commissioner of Insurance; and Nikki Porcher and Michelle Michi Sanchez for Commissioner of Labor.
For the Nonpartisan General Election, Incumbent Buck Levins and Jeremy Clough won their elections for Enotah Circuit Superior Court Judge. Levins secured re-election with 75.61% of the vote against Kerry Morris, and Clough earned 67.67% of ballots to defeat Elise Hoyle.
For a full listing of county and statewide results in the General Primary Elections and Nonpartisan General Election, visit https://sos.ga.gov/page/georgia-election-results.
The deadline to register for participation in the June 16 primary runoffs was April 20, and the voter registration deadline for the Nov. 3 General Election is Oct. 5.
