ATHENS, Ga. — Incumbent District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez lost her bid for reelection in the Western Judicial Circuit. Gonzalez’s campaign put out a concession message online early Wednesday morning.
Preliminary results from the Georgia Secretary of State’s Election Hub show her opponent, Independent candidate Kalki Yalamanchili, took home nearly 60% of the vote to her slim edge over 40%.
In terms of direct voter tallies, the election data from Georgia officials show Yalamanchili earned 44,984 votes to Gonzaelz’s 30,607. The Western Judicial Circuit includes Clarke and Oconee counties.
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While the data from the state showed the gap in thousands of votes, Gonzalez’s concession says the race was close, with just over 600 votes in the gap.
The difference comes from the way the Western Judicial Circuit is set, with Clarke County voters backing Yalamanchili with 25,138 votes to Gonzalez’s 24,515. In Oconee County, the other county in the judicial circuit, the gap in voters was much larger with 19,846 backing Yalamanchili and 6,092 backing Gonzalez.
From the statement by the Gonzalez campaign, it appears she was focused mainly on voters in Clarke County, where the vote difference was 623.
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“In this election, we faced significant financial disparities, with our opponent receiving substantial backing from large donors,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “While we may not have had the same economic power, we worked diligently with the resources we had, focusing on serving the voices of our constituents who often go unheard. Our commitment to community engagement and advocacy remains unwavering.”
Gonzalez also called on Yalamanchili to keep his promises made during the campaign to preserve some of the now-outgoing DA’s social issue priorities and asked the community to come together to address those issues and move forward together.
The presumptive DA-elect has not yet put out a statement. Channel 2 Action News has reached out to the Yalamanchili campaign for comment on Gonzalez’s concession and a more general statement on the election results and are waiting for their response.
Like all races in Georgia, the election results have not yet been certified so the candidates have not yet officially been declared a winner or loser, but the concession speech makes it clear that Gonzalez has accepted the electoral defeat.
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