Former DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones enters race for Ga. House seat
Former DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones is running for a Georgia House of Representatives seat covering parts of DeKalb and Rockdale counties.
Jones, a Democrat, filed papers to campaign for House District 91 on Wednesday. No other candidates have entered the race, and qualifying for office lasts until Friday.
Jones has unsuccessfully run for several elected offices since he completed two terms in charge of DeKalb's government in 2008.
He campaigned to become DeKalb’s sheriff in 2014, and he previously sought U.S. Senate and U.S. House seats.
Jones didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment Wednesday.
He's entering a wide-open House race because Rep. Dee Dawkins Haigler, D-Lithonia, is running for a state Senate seat currently held by Sen. JaNice Van Ness, R-Conyers.
Two other Democrats have also qualified for the Senate District 43 race: former Rep. Tonya Anderson and Toney Collins, an engineer.
The AJC is providing regular updates throughout the week to show you who has signed up to run. See who has a primary challenge and who has clear sailing through November here: http://www.myajc.com/candidate-qualifying-2016/
About the Author
Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.
