Cooke wins District 5 commission seat, turnout remains low

Four weeks ago, Andrea Cooke missed out on winning Macon-Bibb’s District 5 County Commission seat outright by just a handful of votes and was forced into a runoff.

Her victory over Edward Foster earlier this week was more resounding. She drew slightly more than 70% of the vote in a race marked by low turnout.

Cooke said she plans to work hard to learn more about her district and increase accessibility to information on everything from blight and gentrification to neighborhood watch programs.

As the founder of Macon Mental Health Matters, which worked closely with Macon-Bibb County and its mental health outreach programming, she plans to be an advocate for making such services more available.

March’s general election saw 1,058 voters spread their votes among six candidates. In the runoff, 1,059 voters showed up, about 8.3% of all registered voters in District 5.

Cooke received 746 votes (70.4%), while Foster received 313 (29.6%).

The district encompasses parts of the Vineville, Ingleside, Pleasant Hill, Napier Heights, Cherokee Heights and Unionville neighborhoods.

Cooke said that she’s proud of the “positive” campaign she ran.

“I’m just grateful for the people who came out and supported not just me but the other candidate,” Cooke said. “It was great to see so many people who were truly interested in the political process.”

Tuesday, before the results were in, Foster paced around the board of elections office. The tally came in at 9:06 p.m.

Despite the loss, he promised to be more involved in the community and to raise more awareness around voting specifically.

“I feel good about the campaign but wish turnout was better,” he told The Melody.

Cooke agreed but saw it as “an opportunity for us to engage more people to find out what it will take to get them interested in the political process.”

Mindy Hart, who has lived in the Ingleside neighborhood for 18 years, said she voted for Cooke.

School zone cameras are among the biggest issues Hart hopes will be addressed. She said they’re a “hindrance” and the money should go directly to the school system and not a company.

Hart said Cooke has been active in the community, involved with mental health efforts and has been accessible.

“I hope maybe she can finish what Seth (Clark) was doing,” she said.

Clark resigned from the District 5 seat to run for lieutenant governor but later withdrew from that election.

Nick Pietrzak, a Vineville resident, voted in the general election for one of the candidates who did not make it to the runoff. He said “there wasn’t a lot to go on” to inform his vote.

He still showed up Tuesday to vote in the runoff. He said he’d like to see the city provide more services rather than paying outside companies to do jobs. Early in the day, before the results came in, he said he didn’t feel strongly about either candidate who made the runoff.

“I’m not gonna be upset about who wins, but I won’t be excited either,” he said.