Midway mayoral candidates Stanley Brown and Malcolm X. Williams have taken to social media as Thanksgiving travel starts, urging Midway voters to cast their ballots before leaving town.
Results from the first two days of early voting in Midway’s mayoral runoff between Stanley Brown and Malcolm X. Williams, Nov. 25, 2025. Wednesday, Nov. 26 is the last day of early voting. Election Day is Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025.
Early voting is open for the mayoral runoff set for Dec. 2. As of the close of polls Monday, 56 people had cast advance in-person votes.
Congressional candidates Michael McCord and Amanda Hollowell, both running to unseat U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter in District 1, have endorsed Williams.
Brown says in a campaign flyer that Williams is too closely allied with county officials, while Williams says in a video he posted to Facebook that he voted against the new fire department because the city couldn’t afford it.
Midway City Councilman and mayoral candidate Malcolm Williams at a special called meeting, Nov, 24, 2025.
Williams said of Brown’s claims he is too close to the county, “I don’t know where [Brown] got that from.”
He also questions why the fire station repairs are still underway and denied he plans to turn over Midway Fire to the county.
MIDWAY MAYORAL RUNOFF
- Polls are open at the Historic Courthouse, 100 Main Street in Hinesville from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Wednesday, Nov. 26.
- Election Day is Tuesday, Dec. 2, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the Historic Courthouse and at the Liberty County Community Complex, 9397 E. Oglethorpe Hwy. in Midway.
Brown’s flyer notes he “fought to restore Midway’s fire department (MFD reinstated July 31, 2025)” and that he voted for the city to lease fire trucks through the Georgia Municipal Association.
The county had offered to build a fire station between Midway and Riceboro after state regulators suspended Midway’s fire certification in February. That suspension came after months of bad blood between the city’s volunteer fire department and City Hall, which originally had approached the county about taking over fire service.
The deal with the county, which Midway later pulled out of, was estimated to cost the city $5,118.032.22 between 2026 and 2029. The city would have had to front $842,330.09 for 2025, then pass a fire district tax to pay for the rest.
Brown’s flyer also states Williams “supported a plan to build a county-run fire station outside city limits — costing Midway taxpayers $5.8 million over 5 years. That plan would leave Midway without its own fire protection, causing: Higher home insurance rates, Risk of policy cancellations, Increased water, sewage. Who benefits? The County.”
In December 2024, Midway had budgeted $860,000 for contract services with Liberty County for fire protection. However, the city budget was running deficits in both the General and the Water and Sewer funds. The city also was unable to apply for grants because it had not filed its mandatory annual audits for several years. Opponents, including Brown, said the county wanted too much money and that the city could start its own fire department for less.
After the city hired a consultant, the Georgia Municipal Association agreed to lease two trucks for $1,749,275, over 10 years, to Midway through Magnolia Bank. The council voted to put $917,287.50 into a 6-month certificate of deposit earning 4.43% until October, then transfer those funds to an interest-bearing account paying 3.54%. Clancy said that money would pay for a second fire truck. According to finance documents The Current GA obtained in April, the total cost will be $2,209,626.31.
Midway City Councilman and mayoral candidate Stanley Brown at a special called meeting, Nov, 24, 2025.
Brown also says he plans to “lower ISO rating to reduce insurance costs, improve transparency and public access, cleanup neighborhoods and pave roads, expand city limits and install more street lights, re-open senior citizens program, change water cutoff policy, expand the Midway Day Festival, create monthly newsletter, expand Midway beautification — swells, lower ditches‚ focus on road paving at Lake Gale, create a youth program, post any updates/notifications on city’s website and social media.”
A mayor has no direct control over ISO (now called Verisk) ratings, which are a private data product sold to the insurance industry. 50 percent of the rating comes from fire department staffing and training, as well as how far a fire station is from the properties in its coverage area. Water supply and hydrant locations make up 40 percent of the rating. Dispatch and response speed accounts for 10 percent of that rating.
Neither Brown nor Williams would have any say over whether or not Liberty County raises taxes; the county voted to increase its millage rate Nov. 20. Midway has no property tax.
Nor would the future mayor decide which roads to pave, other than by breaking a tie on a council vote. A road might fall under city, county, state, federal, private, or a combination of jurisdictions. Cities get a share of county sales tax for transportation, which usually goes to road maintenance.
Georgia’s Open Records Act requires Midway’s city clerk to post its meeting agendas in a “conspicuous place (the glass case outside City Hall), on its website, and in e-mails to local media. Midway also posts its agendas on its Facebook page.
Brown’s flyer also stated Williams would be “A mayor with county ties and 4 inexperienced council members.”
Left to right: Midway Councilmembers-elect Vernon Donovan, Rhonda Thomas, Annie L. Foskey, and Janet Bryant Jones at a special called meeting, Nov, 24, 2025.
Whoever becomes mayor will be working with those new council members — Annie L. Foskey, Janet Bryant Jones, Rhonda Thomas, and Vernon Donovan.
They attended Monday night’s special called meeting as a group, describing it as “disorganized” and “unprepared” and promising to reinstate the video livestream and encourage greater citizen participation.
The Current GA’s free Monday newsletter, Coastal Navigator, maintains a calendar of upcoming government meetings, including the City of Midway. Sign up for our newsletters here.
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