Augusta, GA
Augusta Commission candidate forum sees races for districts 5 and 9
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Georgia’s voter registration deadline is Monday, April 22, and the May primary is one month away on May 21.
There are races this May for sheriff, district attorney, and Augusta commissioners.
Candidates for commission districts 5 and 9 filled up stands at the Alleluia Community School Saturday night, to hear from incumbents and challengers trying to secure commission seats.
For District 5, Commissioner Bobby Williams, and challenger Don “DC” Clark, both talked about tonight’s biggest recurring topic: keeping Augusta-Richmond County clean.
Bobby Williams said, “If you’re at home you want to clean your house, pretty much like being in Augusta, Georgia, it’s our home, it’s where we stay, we gotta keep it clean, we have the up-keep…”
Don Clark said, “I think we need to hold people accountable. We have the services in place, we have it built into our budgets to maintain our facilities. You wouldn’t build anything without ensuring that into your budget.”
Super District 9 candidates, Commissioner Francine Scott, and former Commissioner Marion Williams, also spoke about keeping the county clean.
This super district seat looks over districts 1, 2, 4, and 5.
Francine Scott said, “We have different departments doing the same thing. And what I think we need to do is consolidate those type of services.”
Marion Williams said, “I’m looking at the cleanup in Augusta, how, one side of Augusta looks one way, the other side of Augusta looks the other way. There’s trash all over the street…”
Mayor Garnett Johnson also made an appearance at Saturday’s forum and spoke about bringing voting power to the mayor’s seat at commission meetings, rather than just being a tie-breaking vote.
Mayor Johnson said, “It provides accountability to the only at large elected official in our entire government. For them to be able to take action to get things done. As you see, the abstention rule has prevented progress in Augusta Richmond County.”
Early voting gets underway Monday, April 29, and the Georgia primary voting day is on Tuesday, May.
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AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Democratic candidate for Georgia governor Olu Brown visited Augusta on Friday evening, stopping near the Sand Hills Community Center as early voting continues.
Brown is one of six candidates in the Democratic primary.
Campaign priorities
Brown said his vision as governor would focus on three main areas.
“One, it’s affordability around health care and making sure we expand Medicaid and expand Peach Care and make sure we continue to make our rural health care systems healthy and vital,” Brown said. “Number two, we’ve got to address education in all of Georgia, making sure every kid in Georgia gets an excellent education, and we’re paying our teachers more. And number 3, we’re protecting the rights of all women. Folks in the Gold Dome shouldn’t be making decisions about their bodies or the choices that they make.”
Brown is running against Amanda Duffy, Derrick Jackson, Geoff Duncan, Jason Esteves, Keisha Lance Bottoms and Mike Thurmond.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – An Augusta Prep student was arrested on a charge of terroristic threats over a picture of a LEGO gun he posted on social media.
It happened Wednesday, according to an incident report from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
Eric Hedinger, the principal of Augusta Preparatory Day School, told deputies a student had uploaded a picture to Snapchat of a “pistol” with the caption “shooting up the school so I don`t have to take the stats exam tomorrow. Don`t come yall!”
The principal said he spoke to the student and his father about the photo.
The principal also provided deputies with the student’s address in Grovetown.
A deputy went there and was told by the student that the “pistol” was a LEGO set that he had built.
He also said the comment he made was supposed to be a joke because he was not looking forward to taking his Advanced Placement statistics test this week.
The student showed the deputy the box that the LEGO set came in, and how the set was already disassembled.
The deputy also looked in the boy’s room to make sure he was not in possession of any weapons.
The mother advised that there was one firearm in the residence but it was locked up.
The deputy contacted Judge Leslie Morgan and she issued a warrant for terroristic threats.
The student, age 18, was taken into custody and transported to the Columbia County Detention Center.
News 12 is not reporting his name or publishing his photo since the LEGO gun could not have actually harmed anyone.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
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