Persinger beats fellow Republican in Georgia House election

A landscape architect has beaten a contractor in a special election among two Republicans to fill a vacant Georgia House seat in northeast Georgia.

Holt Persinger beat fellow Winder resident Charlie Chase in a runoff on Tuesday in House District 119, which includes most of Barrow County and a corner of Jackson County.

Persinger won about 60% of votes while Chase won about 40% according to final unofficial results from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

A runoff was required after no candidate won a majority in a seven-candidate field on Jan. 31.

Persinger will succeed Danny Rampey, who withdrew without taking office after being arrested on drug and theft charges. Persinger will take office as soon as his election is certified, joining the General Assembly for the closing weeks of a regular session scheduled to run through March 29.

One more of Georgia’s 180 House seats remains vacant. Voters in House District 75 will go to the polls on March 21 to select a replacement for Democratic Rep. Mike Glanton of Jonesboro, who stepped down for health reasons earlier this month after serving 14 years in the House in two separate stints. If no one wins a majority, an April runoff would follow in the district covering parts of the Atlanta suburb of Clayton County.