Tippins stops by Cedartown to meet and greet with voters
Former GOP Gubernatorial candidate Clay Tippins doesn’t have the long resume of positions in government that others in the race. Yet in his view, that is more an asset than a hindrance since he believes he’ll come at the job of being Georgia’s next governor with a fresh approach.
That was his message along with many more to voters on May 21 when he stopped by Peek Park in Cedartown for a lunchtime meet and greet event ahead of the May 22 primary.
Tippins, a first time politician who served as a U. S. Navy Seal and a business executive in his past, said that if he’s elected to serve when it comes time for the start of a new term for the governor’s office in Atlanta he plans to bring new ideas to the table “not for the government of the 1950s, but for the 2050s.”
“If you take all the years in office that my opponents have served in politics, it adds up to over 50,” Tippins said. “I’ve never served in politics before, I’ve never run before. And I clearly believe that is the right model for the next few years... If you have a new set of challenges and opportunities l i ke Georgia faces in the next eight years, I think you need someone who is successful and someone who isn’t constrained.”
Tippins said he would come into the job of governor with an unconventional approach to the job, but one that is solutions-oriented. Also, because of his lack of political experience in the past, he has “zero ties to special interests.”
A native of Gwinnett County, Tippins served as a U.S. Navy Seal in the 1990s and early 2000s, then returned home and to business life before going back overseas in the Navy’s special forces reserve to serve in Iraq in 2015.
He said that he’s enjoyed the time he’s spent getting to know Georgians from all walks of life during a busy campaign season.
“It has really been a blessing,” Tippins said. “You get to meet a lot of new people, and see parts of the state you haven’t before or for a while.”
Despite his message of specific changes he wanted to make in the state, Tippins didn’t get enough votes statewide to get into the run- off for the election. He finished fourth behind Casey Cagle, Brian Kemp and Hunter Hill in a fiveman race for the GOP nomination.
Tippins did receive 12.21 percent of the state’s vote, or just under 74,100 ballots in his favor.
Cagle and Kemp will face off in a run off election this summer, and that winner will face Stacey Abrams in November.