Heath Wins ‘Battle of the Bills’

Voters in Paulding County and across District 31 said yes Tuesday to another term for their state senator.

State Sen. Bill Heath, R-Bremen, won over Republican voters in Paulding and Polk counties on his way to victory in Tuesday’s runoff, but challenger Bill Carruth of Dallas took Heath’s home county of Haralson.

According to unofficial statewide results from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, with all three counties’ results tabulated, Heath earned 6,330 votes—54.6 percent of ballots casts—to Carruth’s 5,259 votes.

Carruth carried just under 40 percent of his home county, as Paulding voters favored Heath, who took 3,133 votes to Carruth’s 2,022. In Polk, Heath earned 2,079 votes to Carruth’s 1,452.

In Haralson, 61.5 percent of participating voters favored the challenger, as Carruth drew 1,785 ballots compared to Heath’s 1,118.

Heath’s victory comes three weeks . In that election, Heath earned 45.3 percent of the votes to Carruth’s 41.1 percent; J.K. Rogers earned 13.6 percent of the ballots.

Heath will begin a new term in January as no Democrats nor independents qualified for the District 31 seat.