Back to Family and Pasta for Lilburn's Costa

The day after finishing last in the four-person race for the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners Chair, Will Costa was selling pasta Wednesday.

The Lilburn Libertarian, who drew just 8.85 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s special election won by Charlotte Nash, was in the office at Costa’s Pasta, the family business in Cobb County, looking forward to the upcoming farmer’s market season.

“I’m going to go out there and sell some pasta,” Costa said, referring to weekend farmer’s markets, such as in Lilburn and Snellville, which will fill his calendar this spring and summer. “I’d rather talk about pasta than politics. … I’ve been making pasta for almost 30 years.”

Costa, 42, said it was time to focus on business and family — he and his wife Francee are expecting their second child in September — and that perhaps his political ambitions will end. An advocate of breaking county government into smaller pieces, he received only 1,690 votes Tuesday (Nash won with 10,693; 55.99 percent), his second losing campaign in less than a year. He unsuccessfully ran for Georgia Labor Commissioner, also as a Libertarian, in November.

“I will always keep an eye on things,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “You never say never, but I don’t see me running for anything anytime soon. …

“I will try to keep assisting my fellow defenders of liberty the best I can, whether they’re Libertarian, Republican or Democrat.”

As far as Tuesday’s result is concerned, Costa said he was most disappointed in the low voter turnout — less than five percent of the county’s 384,000 registered voters voted. “I’m sad so few people showed up to vote,” he said. “That’s my only source of disappointment.”

He said he wishes Nash well: “I hope she represents us well.”

And to his supporters: “Sorry I let you down.”