Another Georgia lawmaker from Gwinnett County is bowing out of politics.
Rep. Joyce Chandler, R-Grayson, said on Tuesday that she will not stand for re-election this year, after six years in office.
Chandler, 77, said she wants more time to watch her grandchildren grow up and to be with her husband, 83. “It is just time for me to move on,” she said.
Chandler is the second lawmaker from Gwinnett -- and the second on the House of Representatives Education Committee -- to announce retirement this week. On Monday, Rep. Brooks Coleman, R-Duluth, said he will step down after 26 years in office.
Both worked in public schools. Coleman, who chairs the House Education Committee, was a teacher and administrator; Chandler was a counselor.
Chandler said she hopes to do volunteer work after she leaves office. She said she wrestled with whether to leave, finally reaching decision over the weekend.
She said the grueling pace of the job took a toll: She frequently got phone calls as late as 10:30 p.m., even on Saturdays. Even so, she said, the job was fulfilling: “I will miss it terribly.”
Chandler, who is white, leaves a district that is mostly not, in a county that has been growing more diverse. House District 105, in southeast Gwinnett, has a majority-minority population of 53.5 percent.
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