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.
Rome-floyd Fire Chief Troy Brock will update Floyd County commissioners during caucus as part of a continuing series of updates and plans for the year from department heads.
During the Tuesday meeting, commissioners will vote on a contract with Norfolk Southern Railway Company for an easement underneath one of the railroad trestles. This is part of the Redmond Trail construction, which the county hopes to get started sometime in early summer and finished in late fall.
Under the contract, the county would pay $1,000 for a lease with the company
The county will also be voting on an inmate labor contract with the city of Rome to begin inmate detail for litter control inside the Walker Mountain landfill for $58,625. The city approved the contract at their meeting Monday night.
The consent agenda includes an approval for a contract with Municode for a new website design and host for $40,000.
A new website design has been a big topic in the county for well over a year. During the Joint Services Committee meeting last week, County Clerk Erin Elrod said the plan is to keep the romefloyd.com URL as a landing page, which will redirect the user to either the city or county website, depending on what they need.
Commissioners will also recognize the Floyd County Police Officer of the Year Craig Stanfield and Floyd County Sheriff’s Office Chaplain David Thornton for his work with local law enforcement.
Caucus will begin at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Floyd Room, while the 6 p.m. business meeting will take place in the Ballroom, at the Forum River Center at 301 Tribune St.
Mr. Gordon Russell Ray Jr., age 49, of Silver Creek GA, passed away on Wednesday, February 3, 2021.
Gordon was born in Rome, GA on February 9, 1971. He was a veteran of the U. S. Marines and was of the Baptist faith. He was employed with Tyson Foods in the electrical maintenance department.
Survivors include his wife, Stephanie Stroud Ray; his daughter, Taylor Ray; his mother, Joyce Ann Carver Ray; his father, Gordon Russell Ray Sr.; his sister, Melissa Ann Ray Parker, his brothers; David Dekota Ray and Shawn Ray; his special friend, Mandy Brownlow; several nieces and nephews.
The family will receive friends at Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, on Wednesday, February 10, 2021, from 5 until 7pm. Social distancing guidelines will be followed, and masked are requested.
Henderson & Sons Funeral Home, South Chapel, has charge of the arrangements.
SMILE BECAUSE HE LIVED
You can shed tears that he is gone, or you can smile because he lived. You can close your eyes and pray that he will come back, or you can open your eyes and see all that he has left. Your heart can be empty because you can’t see him, or you can be full of the love that you shared. You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday, or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday. You can remember him and only that he is gone, or you can cherish his memory and let it live on. You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn back, or you can do what he would want: Smile, open your eyes, love and go on.
— Author Unknown