Reelection the Order of the Day in Georgia for Oxendine

In the end, Republican incumbent John Oxendine took home the prize in the race for Georgia Insurance Commissioner and will serve a fourth consecutive four-year term. By close of business Wednesday, with 98 percent of the votes tallied, Oxendine had garnered 65.5 percent of the vote to challenger Gaeton “Guy” Drexinger’s 34.5 percent.

The contest that began a year and a half ago was nothing if not entertaining, thanks to Drexinger’s taunting approach aimed at Oxendine’s fund-raising efforts through a series of video vignettes on his Web site.

Of Georgia’s 159 counties, Drexinger won the majority of votes in only six of them: Clay, Clayton, DeKalb, Hancock, Talbot and Taliaferro. Nearly 14 percent of Drexinger’s votes came from constituents in DeKalb County where he earned 96,553 votes to Oxendine’s 72,838.

Bob Herlong, Southeast Regional Manager of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, said the outcome was “not unanticipated.”

“The commissioner led the ticket the entire race – it was the result everyone expected,” Herlong said. “The industry and the commissioner have a good working relationship. We don’t always agree on everything but we’re cordial.”