DeKalb County Commissioner Kathie Gannon and State Court Judge Dax Lopez are criticizing political candidates who used "racial or religious smears in a cheap attempt to garner votes," saying voters rejected them in the primary election.
Gannon didn’t mention any candidates by name as she read a letter from her and Lopez at the end of the DeKalb Commission meeting Tuesday.
Gannon, who is white, defeated Warren Mosby, who is black and had mailed a campaign flier saying, "We cannot win this seat unless all African American Democrats vote in the primary now!"
“This needs to be a lesson to all future candidates and those who purport to be campaign experts,” Gannon said. “DeKalb voters will no longer support these types of tactics and will reject candidates who inject racial prejudice and bigotry into their political campaigns. We in DeKalb are better than that.”
Lopez, who is Jewish, won re-election against former DeKalb Recorders Court Judge Roderick Bridges, who listed being Christian as a qualification for the job in a mailer sent to voters.
“As we move our county forward to a new day, we must continue to root out and reject such rhetoric in our elections and hold our candidates for elected office to a higher standard of conduct,” Gannon said.
In another campaign, DeKalb Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton, who is black, mailed a flier with her photo next to a picture of her opponent, Steve Bradshaw, who is black, with his wife, who is white. Sutton and Bradshaw are competing in a runoff election July 26.
Sutton said the flier wasn’t meant to draw attention to her opponent’s interracial marriage, and those who took it that way are the ones who have a problem.
“I find that absurd in this day and age,” Sutton said after the commission meeting. “The flier didn’t call anybody anything in terms of racism.”
Gannon said her comments were directed at any candidate who tries to use race or religion for political gain.
“If the shoe fits, wear it,” she said when asked whether her comments included Sutton.
Read the full open letter from Gannon and Lopez by clicking here.
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