The 2008 DeKalb County, Georgia Chief Executive Officer election took place on November 4, 2008. Incumbent CEO Vernon Jones was term limited and could not seek a third consecutive term, and unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate. In the Democratic primary to succeed Jones, County Commissioner Burrell Ellis; State Representative Stan Watson; Ann Kimbrough, Jones's Chief of Staff; former State Senator Steen Miles; and perennial candidate Joe Bembry all ran.
Ellis placed first in the primary with 46 percent of the vote, but did not win a majority, and advanced to a runoff election with Watson, who won 26 percent and placed second. In the runoff election, Ellis defeated Watson by a wide margin, winning 63 percent of the vote. Ellis faced no opponent in the general election and won his first term unopposed.
