Politics

Democratic party flips Republican stronghold blue in Gwinnett County

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Despite an early glitch with software in Gwinnett County, it was clear Wednesday night that the Democratic party has flipped the once-Republican stronghold blue.

Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Tony Thomas has been following developments since a software issue was reported Tuesday night.

The issue initially prevented officials from processing tens of thousands of mail-in ballots. Officials said most of its outstanding ballots have been counted, though some are still up in the air and processing them could take into the weekend.

Channel 2 Action News will have live streaming election coverage throughout the day Thursday. Download the WSB Now app on your Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV to watch LIVE.

There will be no more public updates to the vote totals until the rest of the ballots are recorded.

Among the new elected leaders taking control of Gwinnett is the country’s first-ever Black sheriff, Keybo Taylor.

“I think it finally hit me probably about an hour and a half ago that I actually one,” Taylor said. “It’s almost like you don’t dare believe you’ve actually won.”

Taylor beat out Lou Solis in the race, a handpicked successor of retiring veteran lawman Butch Conway.

Gwinnett voters swept Democrats in control of the Gwinnett County Commission.

Nicole Love Hendrickson will now lead the county.

Channel 2 Action News will continuous coverage as results come in. Download the WSB Now app on your Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV to watch LIVE.

“All across the country, we have made waves,” Hendrickson said.

The school board, tax commissioner and district attorney also flipped. Long time district attorney Danny Porter was voted out.

Patsy Austin Gatson will be Gwinnett’s first female and first black top prosecutor.

“This is like a very great moment,” Gaston said. “I do feel like there is a lot of weight on my shoulders because of that. I will work extremely hard for our community so we can build trust back and have a criminal justice system that is respected.”

Election leaders say there about 4,500 absentee ballots that have never been included in any count that needed to be processed Wednesday. Another 1,000 provisional ballots and then an unknown amount of mail-in ballots were also impacted by that computer glitch, as few as 3,200, but possibly more.

ELECTION RESULTS

Electoral College: How does it work; what happens if there is a tie?