The runoff election for the Baldwin County Commission’s District 4 and 5 seats has concluded with early voting results.
As a result, Andrew Strickland won the 4th District election and Scott Little won the 5th District election.
Strickland, a former Milledgeville Planning and Zoning Commission member and former chairman of the Baldwin County Republican Party, defeated local businessman Jay Wright III.
Tuesday’s other big winner was singer-songwriter and local businessman Scott Little.
Little, running for political office for the first time, handily defeated incumbent Commissioner Johnny H. Westmoreland, who has held elected office in Baldwin County for 12 years. Westmoreland currently serves as committee chair.
According to unofficial election results released by Baldwin County Probate Judge and Election Commissioner Todd A. Blackwell, Strickland received 535 votes, or 53.50 percent, to Wright’s 465 votes, or 46.50 percent.
The deciding factor in the election was the number of votes cast during five days of early voting last week.
Strickland, a certified paramedic for the medical helicopter company Air Evac, garnered 279 votes in early voting to Wright’s 214.
Speaking from his home after the election results were released, Strickland told the Union-Recorder he was ready and looking forward to getting to work as a county commissioner.
““I am excited to serve the people of District 4,” Strickland said, “and so grateful for their support. This is a big responsibility that I will never forget, and I can’t wait to get to work.”
Strickland said he is eager to get to work right away.
““We had a really tough time during the special election campaign,” Strickland said. “One of my goals was to beat the number of votes I got in the Republican primary in May. I only got 447 votes before, so I wanted to increase that number. This was a runoff, so I knew it was going to be an uphill battle.”
Strickland said he was just trying to connect with as many voters as possible.
““We pushed hard for early voting,” he said.
Strickland said he couldn’t have done what he did without the great team he has.
““I also had some great people supporting me,” he said. “Not for me, but for them. They worked so hard on my behalf to get people to the polls and vote. I never would have been able to do this without the great people who supported me.”
Strickland will succeed Commissioner Henry R. Craig as District 4 county commissioner on Jan. 1, 2025. Craig announced earlier this year that he would not seek re-election.
Wright, the first candidate to begin attending committee meetings, said he was disappointed to lose the election.
““I was pretty surprised by the turnout,” Wright told the paper by phone. “1,000 votes. It’s unbelievable.”
Wright praised those who supported and voted for him in the election.
““I’ll sleep easy knowing I ran a clean campaign and I did the right thing,” Wright said. “Obviously I’m disappointed that I lost, but I’ve been praying all this time that God would put me where He wants me, and I think that was an answer to that prayer. And that’s OK, because when God closes one door, He’s going to open another one. And that’s OK with me. I’m 100 percent OK with that.”
In the special runoff election for the 5th District, Little accomplished something most newcomers struggle to do: defeat a sitting officeholder.
According to unofficial election results, he received 516 votes (71.17%) to Westmoreland’s 209 (28.83%), giving him an easy victory.
Like Strickland’s win over Wright, Little’s big victory came from votes cast during the early voting period.
Little received 260 early votes, while Westmoreland received just 91.
“All I did was ask voters to please vote again and make use of their last vote,” Little said.
Little said he was grateful to have been able to run the political campaign he had planned from the start.
““This was a clean campaign. I couldn’t have done it without Mr. Westmoreland,” Little said. “Mr. Westmoreland ran a very clean campaign. He was always good to me. So for me to be proud of my campaign, I have to give him credit as well. He was very good to me. He didn’t have to.”
Little said he was thankful the campaign did not turn nasty like some races have.
““I look forward to taking office and serving the American people,” Little said.
Westmoreland learned he had lost his reelection bid after walking out of an executive session with county commissioners.
The first thing Westmoreland did was to congratulate Little.
““While I have much work to do in the next six months while I still serve, I intend to continue serving the residents of the 5th District until the end of my term,” Westmoreland said.
Both newly elected commissioners are Republicans.
They will join three other commissioners in January: Sammy Hall, Emily C. Davis and current vice chair Kendrick Butt.
