A Cobb County resident has announced her plans to run against incumbent State Rep. Erica Thomas for the House District 39 seat.
Terry Alexis Cummings will challenge Thomas in the May 19, 2020, Democratic primary. Cummings said she’s running for the seat because she wants “my community’s voice to be heard at the capitol.”
“District 39 deserves a representative whose focus remains on the interests of the constituents we serve rather than unnecessary and divisive distractions,” said Cummings, a retired attorney for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. “I am asking our community to join me in standing up for what is right, good, and decent about South Cobb.”
District 39 is made up of parts of Mableton, Austell and Power Springs. The seat has been held by Thomas since 2015. The incumbent legislator became embroiled in controversy in July over a dispute she had with another customer while shopping at Publix in Mableton.
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Thomas posted a video on Facebook alleging the shopper, a white man, criticized her for not following the 10 items or less rule in one of the aisles. She accused the man of telling her to "go back where you came from." Cobb County police released an incident report and video of the confrontation, which contradicted Thomas's account of the encounter.
Cummings was a senior litigation counsel for the Federal Bureau of Prisons before retiring after 25 years of service. According to her biography provided in a press release, she represented the bureau during post-trial hearings with what she described as the largest gang trial in Chicago’s history and the first death penalty case in Georgia after the murder of a corrections officer in Atlanta.
Cummings grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Rutgers University. She also attended and earned her juris doctorate from Georgetown School of Law while working as a court room clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court. She began her career as an honors attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice.
After retiring from the federal government, Cummings became involved in the Cobb County Democratic Party, Mableton Improvement Coalition and the Legacy at the river Line Homeowners Association.
The last day to register to vote in next year's primary is April 20, 2020. You can visit the Georgia Secretary of State My Voter Page to see if you reside in the district and if you're registered to vote.
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