Bibb runoff candidates discuss campaign strategies

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Multiple races from Tuesday night’s election resulted in a runoff. 41NBC’s Alexa Rodriguez spoke to a few of the candidates to find out what their strategies are going into this second round of campaigning.

Two Bibb County Board of Education seats and one commission seat resulted in a runoff. Candidates needed to receive 50% plus one of the vote in order to win their race.

The May 24th General Election may be over, but for six Bibb County candidates, campaigning is about to start all over again.

“I am just feeling that I’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Macon-Bibb Commission District 6 Candidate Joe Allen.

Bibb BOE District 6 Candidate Bob Easter took home 48% of the vote Tuesday night.

“We’re going to continue to press forward with the message that we’ve been saying all along and that’s change. Helping improve the graduation rate which has not gone up compared to other systems in the state. Work on the failing schools. 14 of them have been identified by the state,” explained Easter.

Incumbent Jason Downey received 39% of the vote. 41NBC caught up with the BOE Vice President Tuesday night before the results were announced.

“I think we’ve done a lot. We’ve really turned the school system around and have the right momentum moving forward. We just need to keep it moving forward,” said Downey.

Dr. Sundra Woodford and James Timley will face off for another BOE seat. 53 votes separated the two district 5 candidates.

“What I want to retain is the message. The message that it’s time. We have an opportunity set before us and I think I’m the person that will be able to bring the kind of change that [the] Bibb County School System needs right now,” said Dr. Woodford.

Vying for the Macon-Bibb County Commission District 6 seat at Allen and Ed DeFore. Allen beat the incumbent by almost 9%.

“I think we need to debate on the issues of what we’re going to do. We were not able to do that very much this time around. I think the people need to know where we stand on certain items in the community,” said Allen.

All the candidates agreed they want to see a higher voter turnout in their districts in the July election.

Commissioner DeFore and Timley couldn’t be reached by phone.

The runoff election is scheduled for July 26.