Voters opt to keep Augusta DA Jared Williams in office
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Voters in Tuesday’s Democratic primary are on their way to keeping District Attorney Jared Williams in office.
Late Tuesday with all precincts reporting, Williams had 68% of the votes, compared to 32% for challenger Amber Brantley.
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Williams currently serves as DA for Richmond and Burke counties, while Brantley is assistant district attorney in Columbia County.
Williams said he was running for re-election on the fact that he hasn’t hidden in his office he’s been seen and been able.
Brantley says she was looking to uphold, protect and restore fair and just prosecution.
She says she’s been doing the job in Columbia County but wanted the job in Richmond and Burke counties because of family ties to the area.
Williams says he’s been doing more than enough in office while adding the Special Victims Unit and adding the Youth Diversion to the Arts program.
“We spent the past four years building a criminal justice system that understands the difference between the monsters you have to take out and the people you need to help out,” Williams said. “We’ve been building programs and partnerships to make this a safer community.”
Brantley said she wanted to “seek justice and do the right thing pertaining to all the cases” and to work through a case backlog.
“So that is my biggest concern,” she said. “Not really the numbers, but just try just doing the work because the work obviously isn’t being done right now with all overpopulated jail, as well as that backlog.”
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Williams issued this statement late Tuesday after the election:
Let me start by saying that I am not the victor in this race. God is. I could not and did not do this on my own. God willed it, and the voters chose. To God and God alone be the glory.
To the nearly 17,000 people who stood up for me in this election: THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, thank you. This is confirmation that we are the change this community wants to see. We are going to continue meeting kids in classrooms, so they stay out of our courtrooms. We will continue creating job sites, so our youth don’t wind up in jail cells. I vow to continue Doing Justice, Loving Mercy, and Leading Humbly.
For those who did not vote for me, I want you to have zero doubt that I still serve you. I believe we want the same things: a safer community, a fairer system of justice, and a better place to raise our families. I ask you to look past politics or personalities and stand with me. My staff and I need all of our effort, focus, and energy to fight crime, not political battles. Stand with us, as we stand up for you in courtrooms week in and week out.
To my office, thank you for being so absolutely stellar in how you perform service to this community. Today, while I was out waving signs, my team was in court getting a guilty verdict on a dangerous criminal who stabbed a man with box cutters and sent him to the ICU. At the same time, we graduated a young lady from our youth program, and were able to set her on a path to success. This is the work we are doing for our community, and I am so proud and humbled to lead such a professional, ethical, and exceptional group of people.
I love this community. It is the honor of my life to serve in the place where I grew up. Burke County, Richmond County, I love you.
I’m now going to go to sleep. I have court on Friday, and tomorrow I begin preparing for the next four years!
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