Carrollton’s Cooke is 6th candidate for 14th District
♦ State Rep. Kevin Cooke isn’t stepping down to run for the congressional seat.
As of Wednesday, six Republicans have announced they’re running for the 14th District Congressional seat — and so far, three are from outside the district.
State Rep. Kevin Cooke, who is also the assistant athletic director at Shorter University, made his announcement Wednesday morning via his campaign website. He’s now the sixth Republican who has stated they’ll run for the seat.
Cooke, who has represented Georgia House District 18 — primarily Haralson and Carroll counties — since 2011, will not be stepping down from his post for the U.S. congressional run.
“Representing the people of Haralson and Carroll counties in Atlanta has been an honor, but the last nine years have not always been easy,” Cooke stated in his release. “Being in the majority taught me that political party alone is not an accurate way to measure a person’s principles and beliefs in limited government.”
He also makes the third candidate to enter the race from outside the 14th District, Floyd County Republican chair Luke Martin said.
“I’m sure they have wellthought-out reasons for why they’re running in our district instead of their own,” Martin said. “I look forward to hearing from them at our meeting this Thursday and our debate scheduled for April 17.”
Two other candidates have shifted their campaigns to Congressional District 14:
Marjorie Greene earlier moved her campaign from Congressional District 6 — representing portions of Fulton, Cobb and Dekalb counties — and Ben Bullock announced on Tuesday he was moving his campaign from Congressional District 7 — primarily Gwinnett and Forsyth counties.
At this point three other Republicans have also announced they’ll run for the post — Dr. John Cowan, Kyle Perkins and Clayton Fuller. So far, no Democrats have announced.
Cooke stated his purpose in running is not to only confront the “radical left and their liberal agenda” but also “stand up to big government Republicans behind closed doors in Washington.”
“Contrary to popular belief, a giant wave of socialism is not the biggest threat facing our nation, but rather it is the slow drift away from our Constitution allowed for decades by parties that stands to destroy our country,” he stated Martin said he has extended invitations to all of the candidates to attend their monthly meeting this Thursday at Moe’s Original BBQ downtown at 6 p.m.
All the candidates must file their 2019 Year-end financial reports by Jan. 31, covering activity through Dec. 31, 2019. U.S. House and Senate campaign committees file quarterly, with just one more report, due April 15, before the May 19 primary.