Williams wins District 25 Senate seat; Vance defeats Harrison-Walton in Baldwin

Nov. 9—Rick Williams, who for three terms served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, turned back his Democratic challenger in Tuesday's general election to become one of Georgia's newest state senators.

In another political race, Ken Vance turned back a strong challenge from Democratic hopeful Hoganne Harrison-Walton to win the District 133 seat in the Georgia House of Representatives.

Williams, a longtime Milledgeville resident and businessman, defeated Valerie Rodgers, another Milledgeville resident, who was seeking political office for the first time.

With the majority of precincts and counties reporting, unofficial results showed Williams leading Rodgers district-wide 62.9% to 37% or 42,855 votes to 25,235 votes, according to the Georgia Secretary of State's Office election results at press time Tuesday.

Williams will replace incumbent state Sen. Burt Jones, who was expected to win the election Tuesday to become Georgia's next lieutenant governor.

In Baldwin County, unofficial election returns reveal Williams garnered 8,123 votes while Rodgers collected 6,701 votes.

Rodgers received the majority of absentee ballot votes.

Unofficial election results show that Rodgers received 752 absentee votes while Williams received 372 such votes.

The Senate's 25th District includes Baldwin, Putnam, Macon-Bibb, Butts, Greene, Jasper, Jones, Morgan and Walton counties.

The district's registered voters are largely Republican.

Complete election returns were unavailable from other counties outside of Baldwin as of press time Tuesday night.

During a telephone interview with The Union-Recorder on Tuesday night, Williams said he was grateful for the support he received from voters in the general election.

"I'm very humbled by the confidence that the people of Baldwin County have shown me," Williams said. "I received support from both Republicans and Democrats, and I'm honored to have received their help because I've reached out across the aisle to get support from both parties since I became a state lawmaker."

Attempts to reach Rodgers for comment Tuesday night were unsuccessful.

Williams said he looks forward to serving all the people of the 25th District in the Georgia Senate.

In the District 133 race, Vance, a former longtime member of Milledgeville City Council and former executive director of the Georgia Peace Officers and Training Council (P.O.S.T.), defeated Hoganne Harrison-Walton in her bid to become the first Democratic woman elected to the Georgia House of Representatives from Baldwin County.

Vance collected 6,456 votes, while Harrison-Walton received 5,971 votes unofficially in Baldwin County. District-wide, Vance led Harrison-Walton 57.52% to 42.48% or 11,166 votes to 8,248 votes unofficially as of press time Tuesday.

Neither of the District 133 candidates could be reached for comment Tuesday night.