Meet the candidates for Georgia House of Representatives District 1
Two candidates are running for the Georgia House of Representatives District 1 seat: Republican incumbent Mike Cameron and Democrat John Zibluk. House District 1 includes a portion of Walker County (and all of Dade County).
MIKE CAMERON (INCUMBENT) Political party:
Republican
Personal: I am single, I am predeceased by my parents and sister and have two brothers.
Work history: I spent 32 years at Blue Cross in Chattanooga. I retired in 2014 and did community service work before I entered politics.
Political history: I became involved in the Walker County GOP in 2013. In 2015, I became Rossville precinct chair; in 2017, I became 2nd Vice Chairman and in 2018 became Chairman. In 2019,
I decided to run for House District 1. In the 2020 primary, I finished second. In the runoff, I won by 13%. In 2022, I won the primary by 75.89% of the vote and had no opposition in the general. This year, I have no primary but have a Democrat in the general. I serve on the following committees: Agriculture, Appropriations, Industry and Labor, Interstate Cooperation (Secretary), Human Relations and Aging (Vice Chair), and Budget and Oversight. Last summer, I served on the Special Committee on Healthcare examining the Certificate of Need issue in Georgia.
One or two living elected officials within the state of Georgia whom you admire:
Representative Steve Tarvin and Governor Brian Kemp.
Why are you the best choice for the office you seek?
I am the best person for this office because I reflect the values and beliefs of a vast majority of the citizens living in this district and I work very hard for the people of northwest Georgia, both with constituent services and with the communities that I represent to help get issues like road problems addressed and also to help with funding.
Contact info: Phone: 423-667-3406; Website: www.electmikecameron.com; Facebook: Mike Cameron
JOHN B. ZIBLUK Political party: Personal:
Democrat I am originally from Connecticut, and I am the grandchild of Russian and Irish immigrants who came to this country for a better life. My father, John Sr., was a scientist and chemist and my mom, Joan worked various jobs to help us make ends meet. I was a newspaper reporter and editor for 10 years, and then I earned a PhD fellowships at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. After that,
I accepted a job teaching photojournalism at Arkansas State University. I married a colleague there and we have a daughter, 24, who lives in NYC. I moved to Cape Girardeau, Mo., in 2012 to take an administrative position, and I moved to Lookout Mountain in 2016 to take a position at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.
Work history: Massengill Professor of Communication, teaching media (incorporating a unit on the First Amendment), environmental communication, mass media and society, publication design, and other courses at UTC. Research interests are media literacy, narrative visual storytelling, media law, and media ethics. A selfdescribed “recovering journalist,” I was a newspaper reporter and editor in Connecticut, and continues to balance an academic career with professional journalism endeavors. I was photojournalist, columnist and editor for the Memphis Commercial Appeal, with columns appearing in the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. As ethics columnist for the News Photographer magazine, I won the National Press Photographers Association Garland “educator of the year” award in 2005. I also was chosen as the 2002 faculty fellow at National Geographic magazine where I served as a scholar in residence. I am also President-elect of the UTC faculty senate.
Political history: This is my first run for public office.
Volunteer work, associations, etc.: I am the president-elect of the faculty senate at UTC. I am a parishioner of Our Lady of the Mountain Roman Catholic Church. In the past, I have taught Sunday school.
One or two living elected officials within the state of Georgia whom you admire. Brad Raffensperger. I went to a forum on voting at Fairyland School and I spoke to a staffer from his office for 20 minutes. The program started and I found I was talking to the secretary of state the whole time.
Why are you the best choice for the office you seek?
I have worked with people from all political and religious backgrounds all my life and I don’t think anybody has a monopoly on answers and patriotism. We are all Americans, left and right. I am a decent person and I want to break through all the animosity of our political situation
Contact info: Website: sites.google.com/jackzforga1.com/jackzforga1/home; Facebook: facebook.com/ JackZforGA1; Email: jack@ jackzforga1.com; Phone: 870-219-3328