Columbus mayoral race: latest updated results in 2026 runoff election
Last year, the Columbus Council voted 7-3 to fire Isaiah Hugley as city manager. He responded to the council with this message.
“I would say thank you, for now,” he said during that May 27, 2025, council meeting. “You know, there’s more to come. You haven’t seen the last of me, and so we’re coming. I’ll just leave it at that.”
Tuesday, a little over a year later, Hugley beat one of the councilors who voted to fire him, Joanne Cogle of District 7, in the 2026 Columbus mayoral runoff election.
According to the latest results from the Muscogee County Elections and Registration Office, representing the advance in-person votes, absentee by-mail votes and all 25 precincts on election day, although yet to be certified, Hugley leads Cogle with about 52% of the vote:
Hugley 16,309 (51.58%)
Cogle 15,312 (48.42%)
Hugley used a portion of his victory speech to speak directly to the councilors who voted to fire him as city manager.
“Tonight the people of Columbus delivered what I believe is a mandate,” Hugley said in his victory speech. “. . . Columbus 7 (the councilors who voted to fire him), I’m talking to you. Columbus 7, know that enough is enough. The people are demanding leadership, the people are demanding unity, the people are demanding progress.”
Cogle has yet to concede the race, as she attends her own watch party, Ledger-Enquirer freelance photographer Darrell Roaden said.
Hugley led the six-candidate field vying for the office in the May 19 election with 45% of the vote. With 25% of the vote, Cogle qualified for the runoff by finishing second. Since neither candidate received a majority of the vote in the election, the race moved to a runoff.
The winner will be sworn into office in January and succeed Mayor Skip Henderson, who couldn’t run for reelection because city law limits the mayor to two four-year terms.
The results of this election have the potential to make history for Columbus. If Hugley is elected as mayor, he would be the first Black candidate to be elected mayor in the city’s 198-year history.
“I think after 198 years, this is something young African American boys and girls need to see because what they see is what they’ll be,” Hugley told the Ledger-Enquirer. “This is one reason it’s important to me. But most of all, I was a candidate with the leadership experience, proven leadership, and I’m just excited tonight that the people could see that in me, and they elected me to be the 71st mayor of Columbus, Georgia.”
A.J. McClung was considered the first Black mayor of a major Southern city when, as mayor pro tem, he served for 52 1/2 days as interim mayor of Columbus after J.R. Allen died in a plane crash in 1973.
Hugley worked 41 years for the Columbus Consolidated Government, including 20 years as city manager, before a majority of the council fired him after criminal charges were filed against city employees after investigations of the Columbus Finance Department and Columbus Animal Care & Control.
During his campaign, Hugley promised to lean on his decades of experience working for the city, working with Choose Columbus to create job opportunities, advocating for a plan to have I-14 run through Columbus, and investing in infrastructure to revitalize communities.
If Cogle is elected, she would be the second woman to be mayor in the city’s history, following Teresa Tomlinson (2011-19)
Cogle, who owns Crossfit CSG gym, is among the councilors who voted yes to fire Hugley.
She promised voters an easier process for zoning and permitting to encourage small businesses, continue the improvements Columbus Police Chief Stoney Mathis has led in the police department, and strengthen ties to Columbus State University and Fort Benning to ensure the city is in a better financial position.
The winner of the runoff will be sworn into office in January.
Although the mayor of Columbus officially is nonpartisan, the Republican and Democratic parties have been involved in these campaigns.
In February, the Ledger-Enquirer reported Cogle fired her campaign manager, a self-described Christian Nationalist who worked for Republican candidates in Georgia after criticism of her choice became public.
Then in May, the L-E reported the Muscogee County Democratic Committee endorsed Hugley.
This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 7:56 PM.
