Richmond County school board incumbents win another term, add one new member
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that the Richmond County school board's District 2 seat was won by Charlie Hannah. The race is going to a runoff. The story has been updated.
Richmond County's Board of Education remains relatively the same as incumbents retain their positions on the school board.
School board members Charlie Walker of District 7, and Venus Cain of District 9, were reelected to serve additional terms on Tuesday. Walker was reelected in 2018 and Cain in 2007.
"All I can say to my community is thank you, thank you, thank you," Cain said.
Georgia election 2022 live updates: Elections conclude in Richmond, Columbia counties
Board of Education: School board candidates have big plans and goals to fix Richmond County Schools
"My opponent ran a really tight race," Walker said. "She was very dedicated, did well and was aggressive, but at the end of the day I guess folks who had put me in four years decided I was worth another four years, and I'm very pleased."
District 2's representative may remain the same, but that's yet to be decided. Incumbent Charlie Hannah took 49.57% of the vote, while competitors Yiet Knight received 16.48% and Larry Fryer received 33.96%. Because Hannah did not receive enough votes, that race is moving to a runoff. Hannah could not immediately be reached for comment.
"I'm still a team player. I'm still gonna do what I have to do in the community," Knight said.
Fryer could not be reached for comment.
Walker won 52.62% of the vote. Brittiany Broadwater got 47.38%.
"I'm very proud of the effort put in," Broadwater said. "I thought it was a very close race. You know, a lot of people told me this is an uphill battle, that there was no way, but I think what we just saw today was there are plenty of people in Augusta who are ready for something different, who are ready for change."
Cain received 70.06% of the vote. Christopher Mulliens received 29.94%.
"Augusta spoke, and congratulations to Ms. Venus Cain," Mulliens said. "I'm just excited for what my team did."
One new change is who will be representing District 6 on the board. With the retirement of A.K. Hasan, newcomer Tyrique Robinson will be taking his place after running unopposed in this election. Walter Eubanks, who represents District 3 on the board, ran unopposed and won another four years in his seat.
District 2 is in the central Augusta area, consisting of schools such as Bayvale Elementary, Jenkins-White Elementary and Collins Elementary.
District 7 covers a large chunk of northern Augusta, including schools such as Westside High, Warren Road Elementary, and Tutt Middle.
District 9 is a super district, covering Districts 1, 2, 3 and 4. It contains schools like the Glenn Hills schools, the Fort Gordon schools, and all of Richmond County's magnet schools.
Turnout for these races was approximately 44%, 60% and 48%, respectively.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Georgia Election Results: Augusta school board keeps incumbents
