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Cameron defeats Deffenbaugh for Georgia’s House District 1 seat and more election results

Staff photo by Erin O. Smith / Stickers sit on a table for voters as they leave the room after voting in the special election for the State House District 5 race at the Calhoun City Recreation Department Tuesday, January 8, 2019 in Calhoun, Georgia. The special election was held to fill the position, which was previously held by Rep. John Meadows, who died in November from cancer.
Staff photo by Erin O. Smith / Stickers sit on a table for voters as they leave the room after voting in the special election for the State House District 5 race at the Calhoun City Recreation Department Tuesday, January 8, 2019 in Calhoun, Georgia. The special election was held to fill the position, which was previously held by Rep. John Meadows, who died in November from cancer. Staff photo by Erin O. Smith / Stickers sit on a table for voters as they leave the room after voting in the special election for the State House District 5 race at the Calhoun City Recreation Department Tuesday, January 8, 2019 in Calhoun, Georgia. The special election was held to fill the position, which was previously held by Rep. John Meadows, who died in November from cancer.

By Patrick Filbin 3 min read

Republican Mike Cameron, former chairman of the Walker County Republican Party, defeated John Deffenbaugh for Georgia’s House District 1 seat in Tuesday night’s runoff election.

This was the second time in two years that Deffenbaugh lost a race in District 1. In 2018, 24-year-old Colton Moore beat him 2,184 votes to 1,858. No Democrats ran in that race. As Moore announced he would run against Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, in the Senate’s 53rd District (a race he eventually lost), Deffenbaugh set his sights on his former seat.

“I’m looking forward to getting to work,” Cameron said from the LaFayette courthouse Tuesday night. “We came in second place in the primary and we didn’t have a lot of money, but we worked. We did it the old-fashioned way. I kept Costco busy buying two or three tanks of gas a week driving around talking to people. I’m tickled to death by this.”

photo Mike Cameron / Staff file photo by C.B. Schmelter

District 1 includes Dade and Walker counties. Deffenbaugh served the district from 2013 to 2018.

Deffenbaugh said he was true to himself in the campaign and was disappointed in the results.