HD-68: It’s A Sprint, Not A Marathon
As you may recall, Governor Nathan Deal appointed State Representative Dustin Hightower (R-HD-68) to a state superior court judgeship in the Coweta Judicial Circuit last week. Represenetative Hightower had qualified for re-election with no challengers, so the Georgia Republican Party executive committee had a meeting last night to decide to reopen qualifying for House District 68. They did (I say “they” because I was unable to attend).
That means that those who qualify later this week (official deets should be out this morning sometime) will have less than two weeks to campaign. Tim Bearden has announced his intent to run. As you may recall, Bearden represented the district previously before Governor Deal appointed him Director of the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in 2011. We’ll see who else qualifies for the open seat.
Also, it will be interesting to see what happens for those who have voted early where Hightower was on the ballot. I’ve put in a question to the Secretary of State’s office on whether or not those Republican voters who voted early will have the opportunity to vote in the now-open HD-68 seat.
It’s a sprint towards the finish line.
::UPDATE::
Here’s the official notice sent over by Adam Pipkin, the Executive Director for the GAGOP:
Due to the withdrawal of the incumbent in State House District 68, the Georgia Republican Party will reopen qualifying for the May 24, 2016 Republican Primary for State House District 68 on Thursday, May 12, 2016, beginning at 9:00 a.m. and ending at 5:00 p.m.. Qualifying shall take place at the Georgia Republican Party Headquarters, 3110 Maple Drive, Suite 150, Atlanta, GA 30305, (404) 257-5559.
Candidates must present a picture ID at the time of qualifying. The qualifying fee is $400.00.
About Author
nsmith
Father. IT Geek. Former 14th District GOP Chairman (2015-2017). Former Walker GOP Chairman (2009-2013). Resident of Chamblee. American. Georgian. Conservative.
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I like Tim Bearden, he’s a good guy. This is not a criticism of him. That being said, to have a 12 day race makes an already angry and cynical public even more so.
Qualifying takes place tomorrow. What’s wrong with giving folks time to decide to run for this seat? If Hightower had resigned instead of withdrawn a special election could have taken place in November and the residents of district 68 could have had time to consider several candidates.
The law being used to reopen qualifying was intended to prevent politicians from handing their seat off to a hand picked crony. It’s been used a couple of times this year to attempt to do exactly what the law is intended to prevent. I’ll be looking into ways to prevent the type of gaming the system occurring this year.
Clarifying on when paperwork is due after the special qualifying ends (similar to how normal qualifying is) would also be helpful and prevent conflicting information from the Secretary of State’s office. That’s what happened in HD-3 and why we had to reopen it twice.
Very well said Buzz and I agree 100%.
Buzz you hit the nail on the head. The people should have time to have their say. And we are going to be walking away from this feeling short changed and robbed. This is why politicians have such a bad reputation and people like Donald Trump are doing so well.