John Reed – Primary Election Choices

On May 22, the State of Georgia will hold a primary election, where statewide offices as well as local slots will be narrowed down. Democrats, Republicans, and independents will be on the ballot; many names will be new to locals. Most candidates are running similar campaigns, basically following liberal or conservative platforms depending on which party’s umbrella they’re standing under. Without endorsing anyone at this point, here are the current statewide offices and candidates:
Governor: Democrat candidates include Stacey Abrams and Stacey Evans. Republicans are Casey Cagle, Hunter Hill, Brian Kemp, Clay Tippins, Marc Urbach, and Michael Williams. The lone Libertarian candidate is Ted Metz.
Lieutenant Governor: Republicans Geoff Duncan,Rick Jeffares, and David Shafer. Two Democrats, Sarah Amico and Triana James.
Attorney General: Charley Bailey [D], Chris Carr [R]… Secretary of State: David Belle Isle, Buzz Brockway, Josh McKoon, Brad Raffensberger [R], John Barrow, Dee Dawkins, RJ Hadley [D], and Smythe DuVal [L].
. State School Superintendent: Richard Woods, John Barge, Sonia Francis [R], Sid Chapman, Sam Mosteller, and Otha Thornton [D].
Other state offices include Commissioners of Agriculture, Insurance, Labor, as well as and Public Service Commission members. Every member of the state House of Representatives is up for election, and Jeff Davis County has split between three districts; more later on that.
On the national side, neither senator faces election this year, but our congressional seat has a full slate: Republicans Rick Allen and Eugene Yu face off once again. Democrats include Francys Johnson and Trent Nesmith, while independents Greg Marzett and Mary West hope to break in.
Confused? Good. Do your homework. Not every candidate is a good choice…from either party. Two websites are particularly helpful:
www.politics1.com/ga.htm and www.lwvcga.org.