Early on, 14th District race sparks interest
With less than a month in office, Rep. Marjorie Greene is already drawing contenders.
The national pushback from 14th District Rep. Marjorie Greene’s inflammatory and conspiracy-laden social media activity appears to have energized potential candidates to begin campaigning for her seat.
Only just over a month in office, several potential candidates have said they’ll seek her post in Congress next year.
In contrast, former Northwest Georgia GOP Rep. Tom Graves didn’t field any strong opposition during his decade in office. It wasn’t until Graves announced he would retire that a bevy of Republicans signed on as candidates, including some from outside the district, like Greene.
At that point, there wasn’t much push from the Democratic side to field a candidate. One showed up, and then later dropped out due to family-related issues. That left the Democratic Party without a candidate just past the cutoff date.
So far, this time around, there already have been at least two Democrats, and potentially more, seeking to run.
Brittany Trambauer-Smith from Dallas has filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission. Another Democrat, Marcus Flowers from Bremen, told 11 Alive News that he also has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to explore a campaign for the seat.
There also have been rumblings from the Republican side. Her former runoff opponent Rome neurosurgeon Dr. John Cowan has been been active politically and in the media.
He’s given a number of interviews to national and international media organizations regarding the district recently, but would only say he was “undecided” when asked on Monday if he would run again.
Greene was removed from her posts on the Education and Labor Committee and the Budget Committee last week after spreading inflammatory and conspiracy laden social media posts. She remained defiant during a Friday press conference and has continued to be vocal on her social media accounts.
“The Media Mob, the Silicon Valley Cartel, the Dangerous Democrats, & the RINO Never Trumpers are ALL pushing the Republican Party to move on and away from President Trump,” she said in a tweet posted Monday. “Mark my words. We will NEVER leave him. All elected Republicans that are against him seal their own fate.”
A big factor concerning the seat is up in the air — what the 14th District will look like after redistricting takes place later this year.
The U.S. Census Bureau is set to release state figures soon and they’re estimating the population in Georgia has grown by around a million people since the 2010 Census. Once released, the Republican dominated state legislature will then draw up the district maps for the next decade.
Georgia currently has 14 of the House’s 435 seats and may not get more, despite population growth. That means district borders will be shifted to divvy up the population equally among the exisiting districts.
Up and down ballot challenges galore
The build up to what’s expected to be a political free for all in 2022 isn’t limited to the 14th District. Top Republicans in the state are likely to face challenges from within their party as well as from the outside ... and let’s not forget there will be a U.S. Senate seat in contention again.
Former president Donald Trump has continued to target fellow Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. He encouraged former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins to take on Kemp and repeatedly bashed the governor on Twitter, prior to being banned from the social media platform.
Kemp’s challenge could potentially come from from “state Sen. Burt Jones, a wealthy Republican aligned with Trump,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
That’s not to speak for others in Georgia’s GOP who are likely to face challenges from inside their own party — like Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Raffensperger and his staff adamantly defended the results of the presidential election in Georgia, which Trump lost by a slim margin, as well as the integrity of the state’s voting system.
Trump repeatedly aired false claims that there was widespread voter fraud and was recorded in a phone call, which Raffensperger released to the Washington Post, telling the elections chief to find votes to overturn the election.
Regardless, the main event appears to be a rematch between Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams, who Kemp very narrowly defeated in 2018.
Abrams, who organized voter turnout campaigns that benefitted the Democratic Party in the November election and January Senate runoff, has not yet announced an intention to run for governor. However, if she does, she’ll be running alongside newly elected Sen. Raphael Warnock.
Warnock, a Democrat from Atlanta, beat out Kemp’s GOP appointee Kelly Loeffler for the post. But he’s serving the balance of retired Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term, which expires in January 2023. While U.S. senators have six-year terms, every two years the members of one class, about one-third of the Senate, face election or reelection.
Warnock’s most likely opponent at this point is Collins, who has said he is considering another run for the seat. Collins ran for the seat in the free-for-all primary, vying against both Loeffler and Warnock and then conceding defeat.
CARROLLTON — Judges in at least two Georgia counties are refusing to acknowledge a federal order meant to protect most tenants from eviction because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The magistrates in Carroll and Coweta counties are not halting evictions because of the order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says losing housing may cause the spread of COVID-19.
“The CDC, as far as I know, has no control over Georgia courts,” Carroll County Chief Magistrate Alton Johnson told WABE-FM.
Katie Duren said her family fell behind on rent at a townhome south of Villa Rica after she and her husband lost work during the pandemic and neither was approved for unemployment.
After several months, Duren’s landlord filed for eviction. Her family filled out the CDC form seeking protection, but when they showed up for court, Johnson told Duren that Carroll County doesn’t honor the CDC order.
“He should have just ripped it up and threw it in the trash because that’s how I felt when he said that,” Duren said.
Johnson said he doesn’t believe the CDC’s authority overrides state law. Asked why most other Georgia magistrates have come to a different conclusion, Johnson said he didn’t know.
“I think that if the federal government wanted to do this correctly, they would have done it by passing a law,” Johnson said, “and properly compensate those that are out of resources or money.”
He said the eviction moratorium seems to violate landlord rights. He acknowledged that Congress passed $25 billion in rental assistance at the end of December, but said that the funding was not available yet.
“When you have somebody who owes a mortgage, is it fair for that individual to bear the burden of what should be a government’s responsibility?” Johnson asked. “That’s the way I look at it.”
Johnson said he could be wrong in his reasoning and said he wishes the state would send down more instructions.
Under the first federal moratorium, the Georgia Supreme Court issued a rule for magistrate courts to follow. Landlords had to swear that the eviction ban, which only covered those with government-subsidized loans, did not affect them.
The state Supreme Court said it would be improper to weigh in on a judge’s interpretation of the CDC order unless a case arrived on appeal. Johnson said he has invited tenants to challenge his decisions to a higher court.
But that can be harder than it sounds, said Susan Reif of the Eviction Prevention
Project at Georgia Legal Services. She said state law requires tenants pay rent while an appeal is pending, or they could still be evicted.
“Most of our clients, when they realize they’re not going to be able to remain in possession, have to focus their energies on finding housing and alternative arrangements for their family,” Reif said.
Tenants who must leave despite CDC protections have little recourse at the federal level.
They could wait to see if the U.S. Justice Department will enforce the CDC moratorium. The order said violators could face a $100,000 fine.
Johnson ordered Duren’s family to leave the property and pay back $5,000 in rent. A few days later, Duren and her husband tested positive for COVID-19.
Because of the diagnosis, her landlord, who declined comment, allowed them to remain in their townhome for another two weeks. Duren said they were still sick when the six of them moved into their SUV. It was two nights before they got enough money for a Villa Rica hotel, where they’ve now stayed for a month.
“The CDC, which is federal, said that if we did all of these things that we couldn’t be evicted,” she said. “But this one county decided that they could make their own rules.”
Legendary players often have their number retired by their program. Not too many have it retired while they are still a part of the program.
That’s what happened on Friday night at Gordon Central High as Lady Warriors’ senior Mercedes Coleman had her No. 23 retired during a ceremony following
Senior Night festivities.
Coleman is the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,982 points. She scored 1,976 of those points during her first three high school seasons as she has only been able to play limited minutes this year due to health issues.
Gordon Central head coach Matt Swanson said that Coleman is more than deserving of the honor due to her contributions on the court as well as how great a person, teammate and student she is off the court.
“(Mercedes is) the best player I have ever been around,” said Swanson. “She made her teammates better. She made me better. She made anyone she ever met better, which us evident by the standing ovations she receives from other teams and their fans. What a legacy she has left for this school and community, and by retiring her jersey tonight, everyone that enters our gym will get to share this with her.”
Coleman was joined by members of her family and Gordon Central assistant coach Maci Mills during Friday’s jersey retirement ceremony that followed Senior Night festivities where she was honored along with three other Lady Warriors’ seniors between the girls and boys games vs. Model.
Apair of Yellow Jackets signed with area colleges recently to further their football careers. Calhoun senior Jerrian Hames signed a football
Calhoun senior Reed Randall (seated, center) signed a football scholarship last Wednesday with Shorter University (Rome).
Randall said of the signing: “It really means a lot to me to sign. Some people probably didn’t think I would be signing a football scholarship, but I’ve been working my tail off to make this happen. It felt really good to sign today and know I get to play college football. Talking to (Shorter) Coach Zach Morrison, it really felt like they had some good stuff going on there, and they are building the program back up to be successful. And academics-wise, they really have what I wanted. I want to get into the health field so that was a good fit for me at Shorter. Another plus is it’s right down the road from home so it’s not too far from Calhoun and my family. I’m ready to go do something different. I’ve been working out a lot and getting ready for college level football. I’m just trying to get these last few months of high school done, enjoy it as much as I can and move on to the next chapter. I’m excited to see what I can do there.” scholarship last Wednesday with Reinhardt University, while senior Reed Randall signed a football scholarship with Shorter University.
Calhoun senior Jerrian Hames (seated, second from right) signed a football scholarship last Wednesday with Reinhardt University (Waleska).
Hames said of the signing: “It was just really a big relief. I started getting offers late in my senior season. I guess you could call me a late bloomer as far as finally getting those offers. That’s what I’ve been working for since I started playing high school football so it has been stressful, but I’m relieved and really happy now that I have signed. I’m excited for the opportunity. (Reinhardt) felt like a family when I visited there. It’s a small college town. It really reminded me a lot of Calhoun. There isn’t a ton of stuff to do there so you can focus on football. I think that will be perfect for me. Finishing high school and moving on to college brings some mixed emotions for me. There are some days when I think I’m ready to get out of here and move on to the next thing, but there are other days when I know I’ll miss high school and Calhoun. Overall, I know I’ll miss it so I’m cherishing the moments right now here. But I’m ready to go to college and play on the next level.”
Calhoun High School Swim recently competed in the GHSA Swim and Dive Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta. The CHS Boys came in third out of forty-four teams with three top three finishes: The 200 medley team came in second, Will Eickman finished third in the 100-yard breaststroke and the 400yard relay team came in third.
As a team, Calhoun had top twenty finishes in every single event, and the girls came in fourteenth.
Pheobe Reid finished seventh in the 200 IM and fifth in the 100-yard Breaststroke, while the 200 medley relay came in tenth and the 400-yard free relay finished fourteenth.