Elisa Zarate won a special election Tuesday for Athens-Clarke County Clerk of Court 5,420 votes to 2,989 in what several top Democrats described as a dry run for the 2024 election.
“I felt like I had a lot of support, not just from the judicial system, but from my community,” said Zarate, who has worked in several capacities in the legal system, most recently court administrator, and was appointed interim clerk of court by Probate Court Judge Susan Schaffer after longtime officeholder Beverly Logan retired earlier this year. Her opponent, Andrew Griffeth, worked for Logan for 12 years.
“I was transparent from the beginning that I was the Democrat,” Zarate said, while Griffeth described himself as nonpartisan. That may have backfired, as Zarate said many people contacted her with questions after learning through Griffeth’s mailers and social media that he would not reveal his party affiliation.
Twelve percent turnout may not seem like much, but it was surprisingly high for an off-year special election for an obscure office with nothing else on the ballot except a Winterville city council race. Because Logan served for so long, voters haven’t had to think about a clerk of court race in 30 years, Zarate said in explaining the relatively high interest.
“It is a very important position that affects a lot of people, directly or indirectly,” she said. The clerk of court’s main duty is to maintain the records for State and Superior courts in Clarke County, such as court filings and trial transcripts.
ACC Democratic Committee Chairman Tim Denson had a different take: “To me, this was a test run for next year. It was a test run for district attorney,” he said at Zarate’s watch party at the downtown bar Little Kings.
Griffeth attempted to tie Zarate to embattled Western Circuit DA Deborah Gonzalez, who will be up for re-election in 2024. Assuming she runs again, Gonzalez will have at least one opponent, defense attorney and former prosecutor Kalki Yalamanchili, who says he will run as an independent. There are parallels, but Denson acknowledged that Democrats are not as united behind Gonzalez as they were Zarate.
Making the battle lines clear, Zarate was endorsed by Logan, the ACC Democratic Party, Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz, Winterville Mayor Dodd Ferrelle, retired Magistrate Court judge Patricia Barron and Drive-By Truckers frontman Patterson Hood. Her husband, Zack “Z-Dog” Hosey, works at the 40 Watt Club and is a member of the popular DJ trio Booty Boyz. Their 7-year-old son attends Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary.
Hosey and the rest of Zarate’s campaign team deserve a lot of credit, former ACC Democratic Committee chairman and county commissioner Russell Edwards said. “They did everything right, and they pulled out a victory in a low-turnout special election that Republicans were determined to win,” Edwards said.
While minor in the grand scheme of things, Zarate’s win was in keeping with a good night for Democrats nationally. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear won re-election in the red state of Kentucky, Democrats held on to control in the Virginia state legislature, and Ohio voters enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution.
In Winterville, incumbent Melissa Metzger and Jonathan Mosely won two posts on the city council with 199 and 129 votes out of 501, respectively, defeating Dianne Greene (93) and Kenneth Tweedell (80). Ferrelle and council candidate Tina Mills won unopposed.
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