Mo Ivory unseats long-time Fulton County chairman

Mo Ivory reveals the exact strategy that won the runoff

Former County Commissioner Mo Ivory unseated longtime Chairman Rob Pitts after securing sixty-five percent of the vote in Tuesday's Democratic runoff, according to election results.

ATLANTA - Former Fulton County Commissioner Mo Ivory unseated longtime Chairman Robb Pitts Tuesday night after securing a dominant victory in the Democratic runoff election. 

Fulton County election results

What we know:

Ivory finished the race with 65% of the vote compared to 35% for Pitts. Ivory campaigned heavily by knocking on doors all over Georgia's most populous county to connect directly with voters. 

The Georgia State University law professor and lawyer prioritized four major issues during her campaign, promising to fix the jail, fund the courts, build hospitals and protect elections. If she wins the chairmanship in November, Ivory stated her very first order of business will be launching a forensic audit. 

"I always said that I would do a forensic audit as one of the first things that I would do because I can't fix those four issues without the funds to do it," Ivory said. 

Ivory also pushed back against campaign allegations that she plans to raise local taxes, calling those claims premature. She stated that she cannot answer tax questions until she finds out exactly where county money has been spent. 

"And so do I want to raise taxes? Of course not," Ivory said. "Why would I want a burden on anybody, including my own family, if I didn't have to, right? But I don't know what the situation is, so I'm looking forward to finding out." 

November general election matching

What we don't know:

Officials have not yet determined how the spending landscape might shift before the next phase of the voting cycle. The specific financial discrepancies that a future forensic audit might uncover also remain unknown until the work begins. 

Next political steps

What's next:

The political battle for the leadership seat is not completely over despite Tuesday's decisive runoff outcome. Ivory will face Republican nominee Eric Tatum in the general election scheduled for November.