DECATUR, Ga. - Cynthia McKinney, the state's first black congresswoman, blamed the media and electronic voting machines for her defeat. Her campaign manager blamed white voters and Republicans who crossed over to vote in her Democratic runoff.
Once all the votes were counted, it was apparent McKinney also had plenty of fellow Democrats to blame.
They came out by the tens of thousands Tuesday to vote for Hank Johnson, the black attorney and former DeKalb County commissioner who is now the general-election favorite in the predominantly Democratic district east of Atlanta. He will face Republican Catherine Davis, a black human resources manager who ran against McKinney in 2004.
Some voters - both Democrats and Republicans - interviewed by The Associated Press at polling places in McKinney's district said they were fed up with her controversial behavior, including her scuffle in March with a Capitol Hill police officer.
"I'm getting tired of being embarrassed. She's an embarrassment to the whole state," said Republican James Vining, a 72-year-old retired electronics repairman from Tucker, who crossed party lines to vote for Johnson.
Johnson soundly defeated McKinney by more than 12,000 votes, winning 59 percent of the total vote. More than 70,000 votes were cast - 9,000 more than in the three-candidate primary three weeks ago, when Johnson came within 1,700 votes of McKinney.
McKinney had looked for a surge of support from voters in her base of south DeKalb County, but election results showed Johnson easily won the county with more than 57 percent of the vote. Even some voters at White Oak Hills Baptist Church in Stone Mountain, the precinct where McKinney votes, voted against her.
As a county commissioner in DeKalb County - home to one of the country's most affluent black populations - Johnson's constituency included some of McKinney's biggest backers in her elections.
The county makes up most of the district, which also includes parts of Gwinnett and Rockdale counties - where Johnson won even larger margins.
Though her supporters and staff were teary-eyed early Wednesday as she conceded, McKinney remained defiant. She blamed her loss on the news media, which she said failed to "tell the whole story," and echoed her previous criticism of the Bush administration and the war in Iraq.
McKinney also said electronic voting machines, which have been used in all of Georgia's precincts since 2002, "are a threat to our democracy."
"Let the word go out. We aren't going to tolerate any more stolen elections. ... We want our party back!" she said.
She ended her concession speech, which sounded more at times like a campaign stump, by wishing her successor well, but without naming him.
Her campaign manager, John Evans, blamed the loss on the ABC - Anybody But Cynthia - movement.
"It's over," he said. "Folks just beat us. They got a lot of white votes, a lot of Republican votes and they took some of our votes where we have been stable."
Evans also pointed to the Capitol Hill incident as a reason for her defeat.
Some voted for McKinney in spite of their strong feelings about her recent behavior, including the scuffle with the officer.
"She's a radical, but she's ours," said Tony Wilson, a 36-year-old software developer from Stone Mountain. But he admitted, "she makes us look bad."
McKinney has long been controversial, once suggesting the Bush administration had advance knowledge of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Her comments helped galvanize opposition and she lost her seat in 2002, but won it back two years later.
In her latest brouhaha, McKinney struck the Capitol Police officer after he did not recognize her and tried to stop her from entering a House office building.
A grand jury in Washington declined to indict her, but she was forced to apologize before the House. She drew 47 percent of the vote in last month's primary.
University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock said McKinney's political career has come to an end.
"She's history," Bullock said. "You don't get another chance to come back after losing two primaries. It's rare to come back after losing once."
Johnson, a political unknown three weeks ago, strode into the ballroom of his campaign party Tuesday night to shouts of, "Hank! Hank! Hank!"
"What we have done today, ladies and gentlemen, is something that has been watched by the nation," Johnson told cheering supporters.
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2006-08-09 06:33:51
