In the District 4 Race: Allison Beats Ellison

She campaigned hard, knocking on doors and walking the streets of Five Points, day after day, no matter the time or temperature. When she saw a sign for her opponent in a yard, she'd march right up to the front door and try to convince the homeowner to vote for her.

Sometimes, she said, she changed a few minds.

The hard work paid off for Allison Wright, who was elected the new District 4 Athens Clarke County Commissioner. She defeated Athens native David Ellison, a 2010 graduate of the University of Georgia law school and a graduate of Vanderbilt.

A political newcomer, Ellison ran a sophisticated, well-financed campaign in which he tried to link Wright with a Grand Jury investigation of the school board's slipshod accounting methods. She countered that he didn't really understand the role of an individual on a board or how to work on a team.