ATLANTA —
Former Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall and former Morehouse College President Robert Franklin are advancing to a Dec. 1 runoff in the special election to fill the remainder of the term of the late John Lewis.
Hall and Franklin led five other candidates Tuesday in Georgia’s 5th Congressional District. The winner will serve about a month in Congress. The November election between Republican Angela Stanton King and Democrat Nikema Williams will decide who serves the full two-year term beginning in January.
Neither was on Tuesday’s ballot. Lewis died in July from pancreatic cancer after 17 terms in Congress. The campaign in the Atlanta-centered district focused on continuing the civil rights icon’s legacy.
The 5th Congressional District covers portions of Fulton, DeKalb, and Clayton counties.
The candidates who ran in Tuesday's special election included:
Barrington Martin II (Democrat) - Martin is a 32-year-old educator who ran in the June primary against John Lewis, receiving about 20,000 votes, or just more than 12%.
Chase Oliver (Libertarian) - Oliver is the chairman of the Libertarian Party of Atlanta.
Keisha Sean Waites (Democrat) - Waites is a former Georgia State Representative who finished second in the 13th District primary in June, with just more than 25%.
Kwanza Hall (Democrat) - Hall is a former Atlanta City Councilman who ran for mayor in 2017.
"Able" Mable Thomas (Democrat) - Thomas has served in the Georgia House of Representatives, representing Midtown and southwest Atlanta, since 2013. She won her last election unopposed, garnering more than 16,000 votes. She won her 2018 primary with more than 75%.
Robert Franklin (Democrat) - Franklin is a former Morehouse president, current professor at Emory's Candler School of Theology, and was among the five finalists state Democrats were considering to place on the November ballot.
Steven Muhammad (Independent) - Muhamad is an activist and minister who served on Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' task force for reimagining the Atlanta City Detention Center.