LEESBURG — A heated runoff for a Republican Senate nomination is attracting more early voters — and apparently, more money — in Tifton than in Leesburg.
Advance voting for the runoff, between John Dickey Crosby of Tifton and Wally Roberts of Leesburg, lasted through Friday, and attracted more than 500 voters in Tifton, where Crosby is a Senior Superior Court Judge.
But in Leesburg, “it was slow,” Lee County Elections Superintendent Veronica Johnson said, with only 241 Lee Countians voting early, out of some 5,000 who are eligible.
The runoff in Senate District 13 is open to any registered voter in the district’s eight counties — Tift, Crisp, Worth, Lee, Ben Hill, Turner, Irwin and a part of Wilcox.
However, anyone who voted in the Democratic primary July 15 cannot vote in the special Republican primary runoff, and very few voted in the special primary Aug. 5 outside Tift, Lee and Crisp counties.
Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel called for the special primary after Sen. Joseph Carter, R-Tifton, withdrew his name after he was the only candidate to qualify in April for the post.
Carter withdrew to run instead for a Superior Court judgeship, and the Aug. 5 special Senate primary drew five contenders — Crosby, Roberts, Bob Usry of Smithville, Rusty Simpson of Tifton and Horace Hudgins of Ocilla.
Because none of the five candidates received more than 50 percent of votes, the runoff is being held Tuesday, Aug. 26. There is no Democratic nominee.
A Roberts supporter said Lee County voters, who work primarily in Albany, are less likely to vote early in Leesburg than are Tift County voters who work in Tifton.
“Some of the ones that we spoke to just weren’t aware of the early voting,” said Steve Roberts, son of Wally Roberts, a retired district commander for the Georgia State Patrol.
Crosby, who recently stated he’d support a Carter-backed effort to develop an “inland port” along I-75 in Crisp County, announced he had several endorsements from elected officials last week.
Crosby announced Wednesday he’d been endorsed by four District 13 Sheriffs — Gary Vowell of Tift County, Freddie Tompkins of Worth County, Donnie Youghn of Irwin County and Bobby McLemore of Ben Hill County.
A press release was accompanied by a photo of Crosby with Vowell, Tompkins and Youghn.
A release issued to the Herald Monday also stated Crosby also had been endorsed by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, and included a photo of the two men.
However, a report printed Wednesday in the Cordele Dispatch, accompanied by the photo stated that Cagle had not endorsed Crosby, and that a public relations representative had claimed the endorsement in error.
“They must have called him and said, ‘hey, you need to fix that,’” Steve Roberts said.
While Wally Roberts far outspent Crosby in the special primary, raising almost $22,500 and spending $21,000 to Crosby’s $9,300, Crosby has raised and spent more than $45,500 in the runoff, according to campaign finance reports on file with the State Ethics Commission.
Crosby’s fund raising during the runoff included donations of $1,000 or more from the Civil Justice PAC, Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals, J.W. Matt, Lamar Purvis, Denean Stafford and the Howard Center for Women’s Health.
He has spent more than $8,900 on newspaper advertising and $17,590 in television advertising, according to finance reports due 6 days before the runoff.
If filed electronically, the reports were due by the end of a grace period at midnight Friday, State Ethics spokesperson Rick Thompson said.
Any candidate who raises more than $10,000 is required to file electronically, Thompson said.
As of midnight Saturday, Roberts had not filed the report.