Elections & Voting
Former Gwinnett County school board chair Everton Blair won Georgia’s 13th Congressional District special-election runoff Tuesday, defeating Marcye Scott, daughter of the late Representative David Scott. Unofficial results reported by the Georgia secretary of state showed Blair with about 52.46 percent and Scott with 47.54 percent, a margin of fewer than 800 votes. Media organizations projected Blair the winner, but county canvassing and state certification still convert election-night reporting into the official result.
The special election was called after David Scott died in April. Neither candidate won a majority in the July 28 all-party election, sending the top two to an Aug. 25 runoff. Blair will serve only the remaining months of the current term once sworn in. The November general election for the next full term is a separate contest with different nominees. Treating the runoff as the 2026 regular election would confuse two ballots and two periods of service.
The district includes parts of Clayton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Henry, Newton and Rockdale counties in metro Atlanta. County reporting can change slightly as election officials reconcile precinct files, provisional ballots and any eligible late-counted categories. A small administrative adjustment does not itself signal wrongdoing. The useful audit trail is the dated county canvass, correction notice and final state certificate—not a screenshot detached from its timestamp.
Blair becomes the first openly gay man elected to Congress from Georgia, according to Roll Call. That is a historical consequence of the result, not a substitute for vote totals. Campaign endorsements, fundraising and turnout patterns may help analysts explain the outcome, but they cannot establish how each voter decided. Post-election reporting should separate observed returns from theories about persuasion.
Beast ballot check: confirmed are Blair’s projected victory, the unofficial percentages, temporary term and separate November election. Campaign claims about motives or decisive endorsements remain unproven. Disputed are interpretations of turnout and strategy. Unknown are certified totals, the exact final margin and swearing-in date. Expected next are county canvasses, state certification and House administration. Count the box that was actually on Tuesday’s ballot: Blair won the special runoff to finish a term, not the next full two-year term. A final results table should retain county totals, provisional-ballot treatment and the certification date so later readers can distinguish routine corrections from unsupported fraud narratives. The House clerk’s official notice will establish when the district again has a voting representative inside the chamber officially.
Sources
- Georgia Secretary of State — Election Results (08-25-2026)
- Roll Call — Everton Blair Defeats Late Rep. Scott’s Daughter in Georgia Special Election (08-25-2026)
- WSB-TV — Winner Named in Special Election to Finish Late Rep. David Scott’s Term (08-25-2026)