GILMER COUNTY, Ga. – Two candidates remain in Gilmer’s Post 2 Commissioner Election that will be once again asking for votes in the June. Candidates John Marshall and Tom Whatley remain on the campaign trail and took a moment to speak with FYN about Tuesday’s results and the coming month.

All three candidates have been thanking their supporters since Tuesday. Continuing to field calls and meet with citizens, it has been a busy week in the Gilmer’s local election cycle. Both remaining candidates have said they are looking ahead and were prepared for the possibility.

Candidate Tom Whatley said that it is a tall order not only to encourage people to vote for him, but even to get citizens to return to the polls on June 21, 2022. This sentiment was echoed by Candidate John Marshall who said that it is very important to get new supporters and to get those who did vote for him back out for the runoff election.

Many of those new supporters could be coming from the 1,346 votes for third candidate Gary Engel who will not be in the runoff election.

Whatley said he is working hard to show his values and to reach out to citizens who voted for Engel saying, “Gary and I were not that far apart in our ideals as far the administration of this county.”

Historically, runoff elections do no get as many voters in the runoff election, especially when only a single office remains on the ballot.

Marshall, too, is pushing to reach voters as he said he wanted any and all voters to come to the polls. Marshall said, “We’re going to convince as many people as we can that we’re the right choice for this seat.”

Even Gary Engel is urging citizens to return to the polls in June as he said the citizens need to informed about the candidates and to definitely vote again in June. Engel declined to endorse either of the remaining candidates but stressed the importance of citizens to exercise their vote as they select the next Post 2 Commissioner.

Engel stated, “The folks that voted for me are quite capable of making the determination of which one they want to vote for based on the positions of those two candidates. I don’t think I have that much influence.”

Engel offered his thanks to all his voters as he asked them to continue being informed and be engaged in the process.

The next step for the two remaining candidates doesn’t have a set debate or major event before June as of now. However, both candidates are strongly pushing in their own campaigns and said they weren’t going to be shifting their efforts or methods into the last leg of the primary election.

When asked about the runoff, Marshall stated, “We’re very excited about it. We’re not coming from behind. We’re focusing on getting our voters to return to the polls on June 21. Hopefully, we’ll be able to garner some of the votes of our opponents.”

When asked about the runoff, Whatley stated, “I’m going to stand by Keeping Gilmer Rural. I don’t want to shut down all of the growth but we need to get control of the growth.”

With no democrat having qualified, June 21 is likely to be the deciding election for Gilmer County in the Post 2 Commissioner race. The difference between the two candidates was 581 votes with John Marshall at 3,419 votes and Tom Whatley at 2,838 votes.