Prosecutor Wins Court Marathon

Jason Fincher, a first-time candidate and Cobb State Court prosecutor, defeated Kennesaw defense lawyer Angela Brown by a nearly 2-to-1 count in Tuesday's general election runoff to win a judicial seat.

Complete but unofficial numbers released shortly after 10 p.m. showed Fincher with 64.25 percent of the slightly more than 22,000 votes cast.

At 8:45 p.m., Fincher sounded hopeful with roughly the same percentage and 109 of the county's 153 precincts reporting, but he wasn't ready to declare victory. 

"We still want to wait a little longer," he said.

But by 9:30 p.m. the totals from all but 26 precincts had been tabulated with the margin unchanged. And his phone was ringing off the hook with congratulations from well-wishers.

"As someone who grew up in Cobb, and now to serve in public office, it's unbelievable," Fincher said after thanking supporters and volunteers who gathered at Willie Rae's restaurant in downtown Marietta. 

During the runoff campaign, Fincher said he conducted what he called "a pretty aggressive" telephone campaign, contacting the homes of 6,000 potential voters. 
He also stressed his local roots. A McEachern High School graduate who still resides in West Cobb, he graduated from Kennesaw State University and the John Marshall Law School. 

Fincher is married to the former Deena Camp, has three children and worships at Marietta's Roswell Street Baptist Church. 

As a judge on what is essentially traffic court, Fincher pledged to approach his duties the same way he has as a prosecutor. "I've always been a person who tries to treat others with respect and fairness, and I want to keep doing the same," he said. "I look forward to serving." 

His opponent in the nonpartisan runoff, Angela Brown, had a small Election Night gathering at her Kennesaw home to eat pizza and wait for results with her husband, Felipe, two of their children, friends and campaign volunteers, campaign manager Myesha Good and adviser David Good.

Brown's camp went out at 10 Monday night to put signs in the community and reached about half the precincts.

Brown and her team spent Tuesday in the rain campaigning. She said most people they talked to weren't aware there were runoffs or thought she had already won the race.

"I want to thank everybody for going 110 percent," said Brown, as friends, family, and supporters gathered in the kitchen.

"Angela is phenomenal," said Good.  "She was dedicated the whole way through.  She's still a winner."

"I'm just proud of my campaign," said Brown. "I don't know what the future holds, but I'm sure there will be lots of opportunities."

As the night came to a close, prayers were shared, and Brown hugged each of her supporters as they headed home.

In the two other contests on the runoff ballot in Cobb, state Supreme Court Justice David Nahmias easily won re-election against Tammy Lynn Adkins, who had reached the runoff despite neither spending nor campaigning during the general election, and Chris McFadden defeated Antoinette "Toni" Davis for a Court of Appeals seat.

Nahmias received about 67 percent of the vote statewide and 72.8 percent in Cobb, where he led Adkins 16,123 to 6,014. McFadden had 62 percent of the statewide vote and 67.5 percent in Cobb, where he topped Davis 14,530 to 6,991.

Statewide, slightly more than a quarter-million votes were cast.

The light runoff ballot of just three nonpartisan judicial seats was expected to produce a light turnout even before the rain arrived and stayed all day.

A judicial runoff typically draws 3 percent to 7 percent of the registered voters, said Janine Eveler, Cobb's elections director.

A very light turnout "is pretty much what we expected because we knew we had bad weather today," Eveler said about three hours before the polls closed.

Still, the rain didn't deter all voters. The voting place at had seen 208 voters by 3:30, and one by one others wandered in despite rains that turned torrential at times.