Staff Photo by Robin Rudd/ Matt Barton, candidate for the District 5 Georgia House set speaks at the Murray County Senior Center. The Murray County Republican Party hosted a meet and greet for candidates running for the District 5 Georgia House Seat on December 20, 2018. The seat was left empty with the death of longtime house member John Meadows.CALHOUN, Ga. – Despite a significant funding deficit and fewer votes than his opponent a month ago, former city councilman Matt Barton won a special election runoff for a Georgia State House seat Tuesday night.
According to unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s website, Barton defeated attorney Jesse Vaughn, 1,655-1,371, for the District 5 seat, which covers most of Gordon County and the Southwest Precinct of Murray County. Barton received more votes than Vaughn in 10 of 11 precincts.
He also more than doubled his vote total after a Jan. 8 special election, when he received 812 votes in a six-candidate race. That effort was good enough to put him in second place, landing him in the runoff with Vaughn.
Barton watched Tuesday’s results from home with his wife and daughters, over pepperoni and banana pepper pizzas. Around 8:10 p.m., results streamed in, showing him up by 259 votes with just the Calhoun City Precinct outstanding.
“It would be a pretty big whopping for him to take over,” Barton said. “But until [the results came in], you know, I didn’t want to get excited.”