By: L. Cramer
It’s been a little over a week since the 2024 election where Donald Trump and the Republican Party won the country in a landslide. Trump won every swing state, plus the popular vote while Republicans gained control of the Senate and have officially maintained control of the House – the last I saw, Republicans had 218 seats but places like California and other inept states are still counting votes 8 days later.
With such a decisive Republican victory, it begs the question of “what happened in Cobb County?” For the last several months of campaigning, our publication has been sharing some of the most outrageous candidates and races in the 2024 election, including a socialist, an entirely incapable Superior Court Clerk and a questionable Sheriff – and yet, they were either re-elected or won their race.
Let’s start with the Superior Court Clerk’s office. Connie Taylor has been a focus for the people of Cobb County, particularly lawyers and court officials, for quite some time given that she has essentially forced the legal system to come to a grinding halt while offering no solutions. In fact, in the multiple articles we’ve written at Cobb Voice, Connie’s office simply doesn’t respond or even acknowledge that we’ve reached out for comment.
The Superior Court Clerk’s office has seen record employee turnover, and most folks don’t want to touch her office with a ten-foot poll. Even the judges have had it to their eyebrows with the complete incompetence that flows out of the clerk’s office – and yet, Connie won her race with a semi-comfortable margin. Now the Cobb County court system must deal with her for another four years – if the governor doesn’t get involved first, which I highly doubt he will. Cobb County chose unwisely.
And then we have the socialist in State House District 42 who won his race by an alarming margin because he ran under the Democrat umbrella. All my life I have been picky with my vote – even voting libertarian at times when I was not happy about the Republican choice – however I don’t know any Democrat who is picky with theirs. In fact, the urge to Republicans to vote down ballot no matter what this year is because that’s what Democrat voters have always done which is why Gabriel Sanchez, the self-proclaimed socialist, is now heading to the Georgia State House where he will, undoubtedly, cause a problem not just for Republicans but Democrats too.
Then there is the Cobb County Sheriff scandal. Sheriff Craig Owens, like many police officers, ordered food at Burger King but was not satisfied with what he received and instead of using a level head – which Cobb County residents would hope their sheriff would have – he sent 3 uniformed officers to the fast-food chain in question to complain. This story was so ridiculous that it got national attention because who does that? However, this blatant abuse of power is exactly what Cobb County residents voted for when Hot Head Craig won the race on Tuesday.
In an election year where the red wave nearly swallowed the country whole, it’s surprising to me that these three important races weren’t won by their Republican candidates. However, this reflects more on the work that conservatives need to do to help Cobb County residents understand how important these positions are and how having the right person – whether Republican or Democrat – can increase their quality of life.
Overall, Cobb County has a lot of work to do post-election between these races and the Cobb County Board of Elections refusing to clean up voter rolls and instead charging residents to do the job that the board is instructed to do in Georgia’s Code 21 2-228, which states:
The board of registrars of each county or municipality shall have the right and shall be charged with the duty of examining from time to time the qualifications of each elector of the county or municipality whose name is entered upon the list of electors and shall not be limited or estopped by any action previously taken.
If Cobb Republicans want to move the needle in the county, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work between now and 2026.
