The 39-year-old home builder from Toccoa slipped into a cramped statehouse room Friday with just hours to spare to qualify to run for agricultural commissioner. He’s a virtual unknown in Georgia politics, but he wields a well-known last name: That of his grandfather, Tommy Irvin, who served in the same spot for more than four decades.
As Georgia Democrats attempt to chip away at the GOP establishment that dominates the state, they are turning to a mix of political descendants and former officeholders to press their case. Chris Irvin's signature on Friday made him the third candidate with a trademark surname in Democratic politics to try to reclaim a seat in 2014.
Party leaders have high hopes that their legacy candidates can awaken dormant Democratic tendencies in Georgia voters. But internal disputes complicate the party’s feel-good message. And Republicans are confident that talk of a Democratic resurgence in 2014 is just hype.
Irvin joins two other Democrats with marquee last names in Georgia politics. State Sen. Jason Carter, the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, hopes to retrace his grandpa’s footsteps with a victory over Gov. Nathan Deal in November. And Michelle Nunn, a nonprofit executive whose father is former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, is her party’s front-runner for an open U.S. Senate seat.
“Because of what they’re doing, a lot more excitement and attention is on about who the Democrats are,” DuBose Porter, the party’s chairman, said about the political scions. “They’ve brought a breath of fresh air, a renaissance, an excitement, a focus. Everybody thought it could be four years from now, but it could happen now. So why wait?”
Porter took the helm of the state party in August, after his predecessor resigned amid mounting legal problems and growing pushback from Democratic chieftains. He was faced with a titanic struggle of shoring up the organization's flagging finances and recruiting candidates to make inroads in a solidly GOP state.
The party has slowly rebuilt its campaign funds since he took charge. And after months of recruiting calls — and some last-minute arm-twisting — Democrats managed to field a full slate of candidates for statewide offices. They will face a Republican ticket stacked with incumbents who are laden with hefty campaign war chests.
Porter recruited several former legislators to run in some of the down-ticket races, including lieutenant governor, attorney general, labor commissioner and insurance commissioner. Oglethorpe Mayor Gerald Beckum, who was running for the U.S. Senate, switched instead to challenge Secretary of State Brian Kemp.
But one of the most tantalizing pick-up opportunities presents Democrats with one of their biggest tests. The wide-open contest to replace state Superintendent John Barge, who is challenging Deal in the GOP primary, features some of the same internal divisions that have riven the party before.
Democratic power brokers quietly back Valarie Wilson, a former president of the Georgia School Boards Association who hews closely to the party line on education. Her top rival is state Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan, who was spurned by her party for supporting the 2012 charter school amendment.
Morgan says she is “unapologetic” over her stance and hopes to heal the rift within the party, but it only underscores the challenges for the party.
Former U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young, a Democratic heavyweight, sees more opportunity ahead for his party as a new wave of candidates seek office.
“There’s a mood across the state that is not yet reflected in the media and in politics. It’s a mood of people who are ready to move forward in a new way,” Young said. “They realize that you can’t go back, that we need to go forward as rapidly as possible.”
An influx of newcomers and other shifting demographics give Young and other party stalwarts hope. The proportion of white voters shrunk by 10 percentage points between 2004 and 2012 while the number of black and Hispanic voters has jumped. Analysts expect the trend to continue at least through the decade.
Republican leaders have tried to steer their message toward minority voters, who typically cast ballots for Democrats. While many fear the changes could put their grip on Georgia politics in danger in the long run, they look at the November elections as a referendum on their leadership.
The party’s leader, Gov. Nathan Deal, has emphasized a stay-the-course message as he girds for re-election. And he said voters won’t be fooled by the legacy names of the Democratic contenders.
“I’ve got to let y’all know what my ancestors did. They were good Georgians, for many generations,” he told reporters this week. “I don’t think that that’s what’s important. I think a candidate ought to stand on their own footing.”
Irvin, for one, sees an opening. He views the current agricultural commissioner, Republican Gary Black, as an out-of-touch politician. Besides, he pointedly adds, his famous name only will take him so far.
Said Irvin, “I am not my grandfather.”
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