Eshé Collins appears to be the winner of the Dec. 3 runoff to fill a citywide seat on the Atlanta City Council that’s been vacant for almost a year.
Unofficial results from DeKalb and Fulton counties show Collins easily defeated Nicole “Nikki” Evans Jones in the runoff for the Post 3 At-Large seat.
Collins, a member of the Atlanta Board of Education, garnered about 8,800 votes, or 60%, with Evans receiving nearly 5,900 votes for 40%.
In the Nov. 5 special election, with five candidates in the race, Evans received 40% of the vote and Collins got 25%, forcing the runoff because no one received the 50%+1 needed to win.
The Post 3 At-Large seat has been open since March when Keisha Sean Waites stepped down to run an unsuccessful campaign for Fulton County clerk.
Collins will fill the rest of Waites’ term that expires Dec. 31, 2025. All Atlanta City Council seats are up for election on Nov. 4, 2025. Collins will have to run again next year if she wants to remain on the council.
She will also have to step down from the Atlanta Public Schools board to take the seat on the city council.
Collins has served three terms as the District 6 representative on the Atlanta school board, winning her first term in 2013. She was re-elected in 2017 and 2021. Her term expires the end of next year.
The Atlanta Board of Education will hold an election on Nov. 4, 2025, for Districts 2, 4, 6, and Seat 8 At-Large.
Collins has said the Atlanta Board of Education would have to appoint someone to fill the remainder of her term because she is leaving the seat with less than a year before the election.
She explained that in 2022, when she chaired the school board, Jason Esteves resigned from the school board after being elected to the Georgia state Senate. The board appointed Jessica Johnson to fill out the year remaining in his term.
The Atlanta Board of Education’s charter says the school board must appoint someone to fill Collins’ seat because her leaving the post is occurring less than a year before the Nov. 4, 2025, election.
“If the [board] vacancy occurs one year or less prior to the date of the general election at which a successor will be elected to a new full term of office, the remaining members of the Board shall, by majority vote, select a qualified person to serve for the remainder of the unexpired term,” the charter says.
DEKALB COUNTY RUNOFFS
In the runoff election for DeKalb County District 3, Nicole Massiah won with 5,491 votes, or nearly 76%. Andrew W. Bell received 1,736 votes, for 24% of the total.
LeDona Bolton won the District 7 runoff with 9,628 votes, or 70.3%, while Jacqueline Adams trailed 4,065 votes, or nearly 30%.
This story has been updated with the Atlanta Board of Education’s charter requirement for filling a vacant seat.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
