Local & State Headlines

Lee sheriff upset

• Lee’s sheriff since 1989 is defeated by a longtime deputy.

Susan McCord

LEESBURG — Lee County will have a new sheriff in January with the defeat of incumbent Harold Breeden Tuesday by former deputy Reggie Rachals.

Political newcomer Rick Muggridge won more than 50 percent of votes to avoid a runoff in a three-way race for Lee County’s District 4 Commission post.

Betty Johnson and Bill Williams also scored County Commission seats in the Republican Primary Tuesday, while a race for county tax commissioner heads to a runoff Aug. 5 between the top two finishers, Susan Smith and Tricia Quinn.

And Leesburg’s new mayor will be long-time City Council member Jim Quinn.

All of Lee’s elections were on the Republican ballot, and there are no Democratic candidates.

Just a handful of provisional ballots, to be counted Friday, were still out Tuesday night, according to Lee Elections Superintendent Veronica Johnson.

Rachals stood in a truck bed at his Century Road campaign headquarters and thanked cheering supporters for the victory.

“The hard work has paid off,” said Rachals, who won 55.73 percent of 5,148 ballots cast in Lee to Breeden’s 44.27 percent.

“The people of this great county realized that the times were changing, and that’s why I got elected,” Rachals said.

Rachals campaigned on a platform to return a sheriff’s drug program to Lee schools, to work with young people on issues such as speeding, drunk driving and drugs, and to reduce wasteful spending by the sheriff’s office.

Rachals denied rumors that he’d immediately fire deputies who work with Breeden.

“I plan on working with all of them that are still there,” Rachals said. “I don’t want to replace them.”

He added that he was “definitely proud” to receive an endorsement from The Albany Herald. “That was a shock,” he said.

Breeden’s supporters throughout the afternoon said they were not sure where the sheriff was. He could not be reached to comment on the election.

“It’s a long, tired road, when you go from daylight to midnight for 6 months,” said Rachals’ wife, Melissa.

“You whipped him and broke him, all at the same time,” said King Hughes, Rachals’ father-in-law.

Gathered in the Lee County Magistrate Courtroom, other candidates awaited vote tallies to arrive from the county’s 12 precincts.

“I’m just a’shaking,” said Johnson, who’d already counted her precincts’ votes and determined she’d been elected the new Leesburg District 2 commissioner. Johnson defeated FedEx contractor Norman Hoover 673-368.

“Today is my 64th birthday, my son is in Iraq and he called me at 12:57 to wish me good luck and a happy birthday,” Johnson said. “I’m about to cry.”

Johnson will serve as tax commissioner, a position she’s held for 27 years, through the end of 2008.

“I’m ready to retire Dec. 31 and go to work on Jan. 2,” Johnson said.

Muggridge said he felt “pretty wonderful” to have won the Century District commission seat outright and avoided a runoff.

He garnered 53.1 percent of votes, leaving incumbent commissioner Morris Leverett with 25.33 percent and Miller retiree Joe Adair with 21.57 percent, out of 983 Republican ballots cast.

“It is very surreal,” Muggridge said, “how clean it feels, how optimistic I am that I could really do good for the county.”

As for how the insurance agent achieved the victory, Muggridge said, “I still don’t understand the x’s and o’s like other people do. I’m so happy. I’m surprised, I’m humble, I truly did not think I was going to win outright.”

Jim Quinn, who is the husband of tax commission candidate Tricia Quinn, takes over the position of mayor after a special election called Tuesday to fill the post held by Bob Boney, who died in December.

“Mayor Boney had a lot of faith in me, and when he was getting sick he asked me about taking over,” Quinn said. “I think I’ll do a good job of running the city.”

Quinn defeated fellow longtime Leesburg Council member Sidney Johnson, who served as interim mayor, 335-190.

“Sidney did a great job of running the city in the mayor’s absence,” Quinn said.

Sara Reeves Clark defeated incumbent Clerk of Superior Court Sondra Cook with 57.98 percent of the 4,948 votes cast. Cook had been named interim clerk at the retirement last year of long-time clerk Anne Nix, but Clark often said she felt betrayed when Cook fired her in April when she announced her plans to run for the post.

The top two finishers in another countywide race, for Lee County tax commissioner, will face each other again in a runoff Aug. 5.

Utilities Authority administrator Tricia Quinn scored 31.82 percent and Susan Smith, a member of Lee’s board of tax assessors, won 44.1 percent of 5,025 ballots cast, leaving third-place finisher and Deputy Tax Commissioner Norma Smith in third with only 24.08 percent.

In the District 5 Redbone commission race, accountant Bill Williams won with 60.41 percent of votes, defeating contractor Sammy Smith, who garnered 39.59 percent, of 1,028 ballots cast.

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