Year in Review: Upsets, Run-offs in City Council Elections in 2023

And 2023 ended with some upsets in local municipal elections and some announcements regarding upcoming races in 2024.

In the municipal races, the City of Royston saw two upsets for City Council posts.

Three Council seats were up for grabs.

Incumbent councilman Jason Phillips won another term for the Post 2 seat over challenger Wesley Fricks.

But longtime incumbent councilmen Lee Strickland and Wayne Braswell lost their seats to challengers.

Fletcher Hodges won easily over Strickland for the Post 4 council seat and Tony McCollum beat out Braswell for the Post 6 spot.

The City of Carnesville elected a new Mayor and two new city council members.

Former Franklin County Clerk of Court Missy Holbrook became the new Mayor of Carnesville and ran unopposed.

Incumbent City Councilwoman Patsy Watkins was not re-elected but voters elected Sherry Cheek and Gabbie McFarlin.

In the Lavonia, Franklin Springs, and Canon City races all the incumbents kept their city council seats for another term.

And four of the five Franklin County municipalities voted to approve Sunday alcohol sales.

Voters in Carnesville turned down their alcohol referendum by just two votes.

2023 ended with two candidates coming forward to run for Franklin County Sheriff in 2024.

Franklin County Sheriff Steve Thomas announced he will not run for re-election.

Qualifying for the Sheriff’s race will be in March.

Former GSP Post 52 Commander Scott Andrews announced his candidacy as did Brian Stovall.

In Hart County, three Hartwell City Council seats were open and two ended in a run-off.

In the race to succeed Stephens Ayers Debbie Henry and Richard Sheller headed to runoff with Sheller winning

And in the race to succeed Tony Haynie Jermaine Durham and Zach Adams headed to runoff.

In the December 5 run-off Zach Adams and Richard Sheller won seats on the City Council.

Incumbent Mike McNabb ran unopposed.

Hart County voters also approved their next SPLOST VI referendum.

And longtime Sheriff of Hart County, Mike Cleveland said he also has no plans to run for re-election.

He has thrown his support behind his Chief Investigator Chris Carroll who announced his plans to run for the job in November.

Cleveland said however, that if Carroll wins the job, he will stay on and assist Carroll as needed.