Georgia Election: Cobb Co. Voters Tab Owens First Black Sheriff

EAST COBB, GA — While Georgia remains undecided in which presidential candidate will claim victory, Cobb County made history on Tuesday night when Craig Owens became the county’s first Black Sheriff.

After 379,000 county residents cast ballots either in early voting or during in-person voting on Tuesday, Owens – the Democratic challenger to incumbent Neil Warren – picked up 54.71 percent of the vote in Cobb County. Warren, who has served as Cobb County Sheriff since 2003, picked up 167,472 votes (45.92 percent) in a county that provided support to Democratic candidates across the board.

Gwinnett County also elected its first Black Sheriff on Tuesday as Keybo Taylor emerged victorious in his race according to unofficial results announced by the county Tuesday night. In Cobb County, just more than 70 percent of voters turned out to vote, county election officials announced. As of Wednesday morning, county officials were still processing nearly 15,000 absentee ballots.

“We have an opportunity to make history and that’s something we don’t take lightly,” Owens said late Tuesday, according to WSB-TV2. “We’re going to come in prepared being the professionals that we are and we’re going to run this county like it should be. We’re going to treat everybody in this county with dignity and respect.”

Owens will take office once results are certified later this month but pledged to drive change in the county.”

“We’re going to do things differently in Cobb,” he said. “We’re going to do things the right way.”

He added: "We ran on restoring truth, trust, and transparency to the Cobb sheriff’s office. “I never expected to run for public office but I could no longer stand by and see the headlines of lawsuits and broken families due to the sheriff’s negligence. This victory belongs to the people.”

According to Owens, more than 50 detainees have died in the Cobb County Detention Center during Warren's tenure as sheriff.

Cobb County voters also pledged support to presidential challenger and former Vice President Joe Biden. Biden picked up 210,517 votes (55.82 percent) compared to 160,737 votes for President Donald Trump, who remains in a tight battle with Biden for the White House.

In other results, Cobb County voters pledged support for Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Jon Ossoff (200,240 votes) and Rafael Warnock 138,842 votes). Democratic challenger for Cobb County District Attorney Flynn Broady also edged out Republican incumbent Joyette Holmes by just more than a percentage point with nearly 7,000 more votes.