Runoffs, low turnout dominate Catoosa County election reaction

The watch party for Steven Henry, a candidate for Catoosa County Chairman. Henry is heading to a runoff with incumbent Larry Black.

RINGGOLD, Ga. (WDEF) – The buildup to the May 21 primary in Catoosa County has been nothing short of dramatic.

The Catoosa County Republican Party attempted to keep four candidates, all either incumbents or former representatives, off of their ballots because they no longer approved of them to represent their party.

However, after multiple legal battles, those candidates, Larry Black, Steven Henry, Vanita Hullander, and Jeff Long, were all allowed to be on the Republican primary ballot.

Tuesday, three of these four candidates are heading towards a runoff in their respective races, Black and Henry will face off for the Catoosa County Commission Chair position, while Hullander will face Richard Tharpe for the District 3 commission seat.

Jeff Long defeated Dennis Forster for the District 1 commission seat with over 62% of that vote.

Henry, at his watch party Tuesday evening in Ringgold, said of the results, “Well I think that speaks highly for the voters that they don’t want to be told who they get to pick. You know that they want to be able to decide who their candidate is. Out of five candidates I guess we did alright tonight, but I really do believe that Catoosa County voters told the GOP, told the GRA (Georgia Republican Assembly) that they don’t want to be forced into their decisions.”

Henry, reacting to finishing second to Black with 29% of the vote compared to Black’s 36%, said, “I was a little bit shocked, I thought it would be a little bit closer, but it wasn’t. I came in second place. I’m thankful I’m in a runoff. But you get up, you work a little harder, and try to make the best out of it, and I think we will prevail.”

Henry added he would look to add to his ground game.

Black, the current Catoosa County commission chair, reacted on his Facebook page saying, “Let’s do this one more time.”

We have reached to the Catoosa County Republican Party for their reaction to the results, who have not publicly commented as of Tuesday evening.

There was also reaction to the low turnout rate, which was only 17.32% of all eligible voters, or 7,826 total votes.

For comparisons, most presidential elections get over 60% turnout in Catoosa County, and News 12 never saw a line from outside of the Ringgold voting precinct at the Catoosa County Freedom Center Tuesday afternoon.

John Pless, the public information officer for Catoosa County Government, said they were disappointed with the low turnout.

He wondered if a potential reason for the decrease was, “Something though that you have to wonder is that… politics have become very divisive. It’s become very ugly. A lot of families, a lot of friendships are split over politics these days. One has to wonder if people are tired of it on a national level down to the local level and maybe they just want to distance themselves from politics, we will see.”