04/17/2024
Political newcomer Elise Tolbert defeated incumbent Ernest Magruder in a runoff on Tuesday, April 16, to claim the District 3 seat on the Macon County Commission.
Tolbert led Magruder and two other candidates in the March 5 primary, but didn’t have enough votes to get to 50 percent-plus one to avoid a runoff.
In Tuesday’s runoff, Tolbert picked up 63.14 percent with 495 votes to Magruder’s 289 votes, good for 36.86 percent. The district consists of three voting sites out of 16 in the county.
In the District 3 race Primary, Tolbert led the field of four candidates with 506 votes (45.96 percent). Magruder had 306 votes (27.79 percent) to make the runoff. Former District 3 Commissioner Drew Thompson finished with 172 votes (15.62 percent) and Jimmy Williams totaled 117 votes (10.63 percent).
Magruder served terms on two different times, the most recent when he was elected in 2020.
Tolbert, a Tuskegee native, has no opposition in the November General Election and will take office in January of 2025.
In runoffs for the Democratic and Republican nominations for the newly-drawn minor District 2 Congressional District in Alabama, Anthony Daniels received 1,238 votes to 895 for Shamori Figures in Macon County in the Democratic runoff.
On the Republican side, Caroleene Dobson had 78 votes to 75 for Dick Brewbaker in Macon County.
However, the Associated Press predicted the Democratic nomination going to Figures with 14,649 votes (58 percent) to 10,748 for Daniels.
On the Republican side, Dobson had recorded 56 percent with 11, 925 to 9,268 votes for Brewbaker as of 9 :30 p.m. Tuesday night.
Figures and Dobson will meet in the November General Election for the Congressional seat.