 In the July 15, 2008 Democratic primary election, Jones won a plurality of votes in the Democratic primary. However, Georgia law requires a majority; if no majority is reached by a candidate, the two top vote-getters must face one another in a runoff. On August 5, 2008 Jones lost the run-off election to Jim Martin by a margin of 20 points. Jones unexpectedly lost to Martin in his home base of Dekalb County. Jones had lost support within the black community before the runoff election, and only captured two-thirds of the black vote in the head to head match up against Martin. The black turnout in the run-off was also substantially lower than the initial primary election, further hurting Vernon Jones' chances in the runoff.
