Morrow – The Democratic Party of Georgia congratulates Mayor-Elect J.B. Burke on a nail-biting, one-vote victory as the new Mayor of Morrow.  In a race considered too close to call for nearly a day, provisional ballots confirmed Burke’s victory late Wednesday afternoon.

Even more impressive is that prior to Election Day, Mayor-Elect Burke was hospitalized for a significant period of time due to a serious car accident and was unable to effectively continue his campaign. Despite his injuries and through the hard work of his political team, Mayor-Elect Burke soldiered on to a one-vote victory in the competitive race.

While the results will await an automatic recount, Burke’s victory capped off impressive Democratic wins across Georgia, ranging from a mayoral race in heavily republican Snellville, dominating wins in Savannah council races, and an impressive city council victory in Fayetteville. In GOP-heavy Brantley county, the town of Nahunta elected five Democrats.

The Democratic Party of Georgia believes that their “5% Solution” was a significant factor in Burke’s success. This strategy of increasing performance county-by-county by at least 5% throughout the state is expected to turn the electoral tide in Democrats’ favor in upcoming election cycles.

So far, this strategy has worked extremely well.  “We set an ambitious goal to determine our ability to raise democratic performance in our most republican areas during this municipal election cycle,” said Mike Berlon, Chairman. “We targeted over 80 races where we thought we could improve. After reviewing the most recent numbers, it’s clear that we increased performance in nearly all of these races by at least 5%, and in some cases, nearly 20%.”

“There’s an important lesson to be drawn from J.B. Burke’s race.  His one-vote margin is an important reminder that the power of a single individual can change the course of an entire election,” concluded Berlon. “This will be critical for us in the 2012 election cycle.”