In the end, it wasn’t even close.

Commissioner Burrell Ellis triumphed Tuesday in a runoff over state Rep. Stan Watson 63 percent to 37 percent to claim the county’s top office for the next four years.

| Listen to The Black & White Radio Show interview with CEO-elect Ellis |

Because he has no Republican opposition, Ellis will take office in January, 2009.

Ellis, 50, an attorney who specializes in real estate and a two-term commissioner, defeated Watson, 54, a former vice president of government affairs for Matria Healthcare.

It was a resounding result for Ellis who raised more than $450,000 to Watson’s $150,000 during the campaign, and commanded 46 percent of the primary vote.

“We recognize the mandate you have given us,” Ellis told a crowd gathered at Holiday Inn in Decatur. Ellis took home more than 38,000 votes compared to Watson’s 23,000.

Surrounded by family, present and past county commissioners and U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, Ellis said he represents an emerging new politics in the county, state and nation.

“Together we have forged a covenant to make your priorities DeKalb County’s priorities,” he said. “This is the new politics -- to rise above the game playing and divisiveness all too common. Your voice will always be heard, election time or not.”

In the last weekend of campaigning, Watson went negative by airing a YouTube ad blaming Ellis for throwing a senior citizen out of a commission meeting in 2006 after he verbally attacked commissioners.

An organization calling itself Concerned DeKalb Citizens also distributed a flier that on one side claimed Watson would bring the county together, and on the other accused Ellis of being against fellow Black commissioners – by it’s very definition a divisive ploy.

Watson also did not attend a televised debate with Ellis aired on Georgia Public Broadcasting two days before the runoff. Ellis took questions for 20 minutes and at one point even directed a question to an empty podium.

Watson did not return phone messages Aug. 5 seeking a comment.

Ellis inherits a county in financial transition – the incorporation of Dunwoody, residential property assessment freeze and lagging sales tax revenue promise to cut into the county’s $650 million budget all while there is pressure to spend more on law enforcement.

He also takes over for Vernon Jones, whose eight-year tenure included major parks and greenspace acquisitions and infrastructure improvements, especially in south DeKalb.

Jones’ time in office also featured racial discrimination lawsuits, millions spent on no-bid technology contracts and multiple police chiefs.