Bob Duncan has won the Republican runoff race for the Glynn County Commissioner District 2 four-year seat, with 100% of precincts reporting.
Duncan received 64% of votes in the runoff election. However in the three-way race in May, he got 1,232 votes to Abbott’s 1,252.
“Being a winner is always a wonderful experience, and I’m ever thankful for my family, my friends, my supporters, and it was really a team effort to win, and it was a very, very decisive win”, said Duncan after the win. “So I think the islanders have decided what kind of leadership they want going forward, and they want common sense leadership.”
Duncan, who has lived in Glynn County for most of his life, previously served on the Brunswick-Glynn County Joint Water and Sewer Commission and the board of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp.
He said he looks to build trust within the community by sticking to his platform and following through with what he promised throughout the campaign cycle.
“I said that the things that i believe were important to the constituents which was to have a safe community, and I’m committed to work with our law enforcement to continue to improve their professionalism and fill the ranks of law enforcement and so, frankly, we will have more cops on the beach and that’ll help improve safety on St. Simons,” said Duncan. “Then the other thing that we had talked about was improving infrastructure. I think when people see that I’m focused on getting infrastructure built on the island that’s going to make it easier for islanders to live. Simple thing is improving the congestion for traffic. Folks want to be able to get in and out of their neighborhoods easier and safer.”
Abbott, a lifetime educator, sought to gain the seat after being dismayed by the unmanaged development on St. Simons and what she described as a lack of ordinance enforcement.
“I made a lot of new friends my husband and I have made a lot of new connections in the community, and we really enjoyed the experience we both did, and I look forward to continuing to try to help out the community any way that I can,” said Abbott after the loss.
She said she has no plans to run for the seat in four years, and when looking back, she says she wishes she would’ve used the element of surprise to her advantage more so than she did.
“If anything, we had the majority before, we technically had won before, and I was nice that I was able to get them by surprise, and so now that they weren’t surprised, they just it just got kind of dirty,” said Abbott. “I think, if anything, I probably should have gone even harder with the canvassing before the election, we knew we had a lot of votes, and I did, I had the majority, but we didn’t have enough to get to that 50% which was disappointing. So I should have canvassed even, even more than I did.”
The fiercely contested race is expected to significantly impact the construction of a roundabout at Sea Island Road and Frederica Road. District 2 of the county commission covers St. Simons Island and Sea Island.
Duncan, who said he prefers to listen to the engineering experts that the city hired to do assessments when considering the roundabout. Abbott was unwilling to compromise on the roundabout and its construction in any form.
Cap Fendig holds the seat but chose not to run for reelection. In addition to his current term, he served on the county commission from 2001 to 2008.
The commissioners’ regular meetings are held on the first and third Thursdays of each month at 6 p.m.
Edgy wins JWSC seat
Bill Edgy won the Brunswick-Glynn Joint Water Sewer Commission (JWSC) At Large Post 1. Edgy finished with 3,721 votes to Grace’s 1,590 in the nonpartisan race. The JWSC is responsible for providing sufficient drinking water and oversees wastewater treatment for all of Glynn County and Brunswick.
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