Lewis’ successor ‘the overwhelming favorite’
♦ But DNC member Wendy Davis says the state law rushing the decision should be changed.
The choice of state Sen. Nikema Williams to replace U.S. Rep. John Lewis on the ballot is a good one, Rome City Commissioner Wendy Davis said — but she’s sorry it had to be rushed.
Davis, a member of the Democratic National Committee, sits on the state party’s executive committee that made the final decision Monday afternoon. She said state law set the deadline to announce a new candidate after Lewis died Friday, but she will lobby for it to be changed next year.
“Senator Williams was the overwhelming favorite, but this was an unfortunate situation we found ourselves in,” Davis said. “It’s horrifying we had to move so quickly before the Congressman was even buried.”
Williams, 41, was chosen from a list of five finalists to take Lewis’ spot on the November ballot for the Atlanta-area 5th Congressional District. A Republican is also running in the heavily Democratic district.
Davis said there were 132 applicants and “a distinguished panel of party leaders” spent Sunday night whittling down the list. The executive committee chose Williams after inteviewing the finalists and debating the issue during a public Zoom meeting that lasted over two hours.
Among the members of the nominating committee were former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former party chair Dubose Porter and the chairs of each county’s party.
“So there was good representation from around the state,” Davis said.
The other finalists were state Rep. Park Cannon, Georgia NAACP President James Woodall, Atlanta city councilman Andre Dickens and Robert Franklin, former president of Morehouse College in Atlanta.
Williams has served in the state Senate since 2017 and is the current chair of the Georgia Democratic Party. She abstained from the executive committee’s vote.
“A hundred thousand of her state Senate constituents are in that district and she got 77% of the vote in her primary this summer,” Davis noted.
Williams will face Republican Angela Stanton-king, a reality TV personality who was pardoned earlier this year by President Donald Trump for her role in a stolen car ring, after serving six months of home confinement in 2007.
Lewis won more than 84% of the vote when he last faced a Republican opponent in the district in 2016.
The seat will remain empty until Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp schedules a special election. The Republican governor has given no indication when he will hold an election with just over six months left in Lewis’ term.
“It’s really awkward,” Davis said about the timing.
Because it’s a federal election, the earliest date would be in September, she said, while Fulton County officials are preparing for the November general election. If a runoff is required, it would be in November. Or, if Kemp put the special election on the November ballot, a runoff would take it past Lewis’ term.
Lewis, 80, died several months after he was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. Funeral plans have not been announced. Kemp declared flags in Georgia will be at half-staff until sunset of the day of Lewis’ funeral.
Hundreds of people came to a giant mural of Lewis near his downtown Atlanta home Sunday to pay their respects.
Flowers, balloons, photos, candles and cards piled up at the base of the building where “HERO” was written above the painting of Lewis speaking.