School District 1: Hugley Green and Thomas-Brown headed for runoff

Longtime District 1 School Board Representative Pat Hugley Green is headed for a runoff with one of her opponents in her bid for re-election.

In unofficial results, including in-person early voting but not absentee ballots, Green captured 1,169 votes, compared to 752 for JoAnn Thomas Brown and 578 for Al Stewart, two retired school administrators who strongly opposed her. That left Green with 46.78 percent, Thomas-Brown with 30.09 percent and Stewart with 23.13 percent.

Runoffs are conducted if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote. This year’s runoff election will be July 26.

Hugley, 49, has served 12 years on the Muscogee County School Board and is the board’s vice chair. On Tuesday, she watched closely from her campaign office on St. Marys Road as the results started rolling in.

Earlier in the day, Green told the Ledger-Enquirer that she had worked hard to win outright and avoid a runoff, but by Tuesday night she had accepted what seemed like the inevitable.

“Well, I do want to say thank you to the voters of District 1 for that majority vote; however, I don’t have the 50 percent plus one that’s required to avoid a runoff,” said the three-term incumbent. “So we’re going to hit the ground running. We still have more work to do, and we are geared up and prepared to do that.”

Green said many people didn’t vote all the way down the ballot at many precincts and she thinks it had a significant impact on school board elections.

“There were several machines where people didn’t cast a single vote for a school board race at all,” she said.

She said incumbent school board members also faced strong opposition from District 8 representative Frank Myers, which she believes contributed to the defeat of fellow board member Athavia “A.J.” Senior, who lost Tuesday in the District 3 race against political newcomer Vanessa Jackson.

“I’m sure she’s disappointed; when you work hard on your campaign, you offer yourself up for service, of course you’re running to win,” she said. “I’m sure that she’s disappointed that her message didn’t get out to return back to her, and I’m sure she’s disappointed to have a current sitting board member to campaign against colleagues.”

Thomas-Brown, 62, learned that she was in a runoff when contacted by a Ledger-Enquirer reporter. She had just come in from the store, after spending the evening with friends.

“That is wonderful,” she said. “I think the race was well-planned. We worked hard and we’re looking forward to bringing it all in.

“I believe we’ve got the message out that we need a change in District 1 so we could get these children reading on grade level and make sure they don’t drop out of school and become a part of the system,” she added. “I believe people are listening to that.”

Thomas-Brown said it’s unfortunate that Myers has become such a big focus of the race.

“He does provide good information and he endorsed us, and that is his right to do so, and we appreciate any endorsements that we receive along the way,” she said. “But I believe we are getting the message out about the fact that we need to make a change.”

Green is a licensed insurance agent and student mentor coordinator at the office of State Farm insurance agent Carolyn Hugley, her sister-in-law. She’s also chief administrative officer for Hugley’s Facility Management Janitorial Service, and she is the sister of Columbus City Manager Isaiah Hugley.

Thomas-Brown served 36 years as an educator in the Muscogee County School District, retiring in 2007 as a behavioral specialist at Woodall Center. She was also a principal at Baker Middle School.

Stewart, 73, retired as an assistant principal at Brewer Elementary School after 36 years as an educator in the district. He first challenged Green four years ago in an election where Green won 54.7 percent of the votes.

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 11:31 PM with the headline "School District 1: Hugley Green and Thomas-Brown headed for runoff."