A former Democratic state representative has won the race to be the next mayor of Roswell, Georgia, ousting an opponent who had the backing of the Republican State Governor.
Mary Robichaux, a former Democratic member of the Georgia House of Representatives, won the election with 53 percent of the votes, beating the incumbent Kurt Wilson, who garnered 47 percent of the vote share.
While the mayoral election was non-partisan, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, had called on Georgia voters to back Wilson, calling him a “Republican” mayor who had kept his city “safe and thriving.” Meanwhile, Robichaux served in Georgia’s House as a Democratic state representative from 2019 to 2023.
The election came as neither candidate secured a majority in the general election on November 4, forcing a runoff.
In the previous election, there were just 185 votes between Wilson and Robichaux.
Newsweek reached out to Wilson and Robichaux by email to comment on this story outside of normal business hours.
Why It Matters
While this is a local and non-partisan election, Georgia is an important swing state and the results of local elections could indicate voting behavior in federal elections. In 2020, former President Joe Biden flipped the state from Donald Trump by 11,779 votes, or 0.24 percent of the 5 million ballots cast, making Trump the first Republican to lose the state in decades. In 2024, Trump won the state back with 50.7 percent of the vote share to former vice president Kamala Harris’ 48.5 percent.
Speaking to Newsweek, Thomas Gift, an associate professor of political science and the director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London said: “Almost all politics in America has been nationalized, so it would be a mistake to view this race as a purely local issue.
What To Know
Wilson was first elected in 2021. But he faced difficulties when 21 former elected officials wrote an open letter to him and other council members in November, calling on him to pause a property development for fear it would impact trees in the area.
Gift added: “Even in officially non-partisan contests, voters often read the candidates through a national partisan lens, and high-profile endorsements reinforce that dynamic. That said, local factors always matter at the margins, especially in municipal elections where issues like development, zoning, and public safety can heavily affect perceptions of both incumbents and challengers.”
Meanwhile, the Roswell election was not the only election to take place on Tuesday. In Tennessee, Republican Matt Van Epps, an Army veteran, won the special election in Tennessee’s 7th District with 53.9 percent of the vote to Democratic state legislator Aftyn Behn’s 45.0 percent of the vote share. While this was a success for Republicans, the victory was by a tighter margin than previous polls had anticipated.
What People Are Saying
Speaking to 11Alive, Robichaux said: “I had a commitment to this city. Progress is always good, but it needs to be progress that fits the city and what the citizens want and that the citizens get to be heard.”
She added: “People aren’t voting on what your political party is, they’re voting on what they believe is going to be best for their city, their Roswell, and I would like to believe that we got our message out there consistently and in a manner that people wanted”.
What Happens Next
The most significant batch of elections upcoming are the midterms, which take place in November 2026.
