Georgia conservatives are gunning to “get back” the seat that cost them a two-thirds Senate majority last year when first-time candidate Jen Jordan won a special election, flipping a district that had been held by a Republican.
Jordan is facing Leah Aldridge, who was the top Republican vote-getter in last year’s eight-person race.
Many top state lawmakers and lobbyists have poured money into the candidate’s campaign account.
Jordan, an Atlanta attorney, said she’s surprised by the intensity of Republicans seeking to oust her.
“(Aldridge has) support from all the big-name Republicans everybody knows and everybody that’s associated with the Republican brand,” Jordan said. “It surprised me, but I guess it shouldn’t. It shows they’re concerned. They’re pulling out the big guns.”
Aldridge, an Atlanta resident who runs a lactation consultant business, said a Republican in the seat would better be able to continue pushing the agenda of retiring Gov. Nathan Deal.
“It’s (Deal’s) policies and Republicans in the Legislature that have brought us the lowest unemployment rate in years,” she said. “(Republicans) fully funded public education, not Jen Jordan.”
Jordan, who campaigns on many of the accomplishments of this year's legislative session, was among the 54 senators who voted in favor of the state budget that included additional funding for k-12 schools.
The Democrat’s focus on public education is one of the reasons Atlanta resident Kate Kratovil, who works with an education-based nonprofit, said she supports the first-term senator.
“She agrees that every child in this state — in this country, really — deserves a chance,” Kratovil said. “And children are provided that chance when they’re fed right, they’re not going to school hungry, and have access to education.”
Sandy Springs resident Merrilee Gober, who said she’s known Aldridge for nearly 20 years, said she believes the Republican’s background will benefit Georgia’s new mothers and babies.
"Moms and babies for many years have not gotten the attention they need," she said, pointing to Georgia's highest-in-the-nation maternal mortality rate. "We need someone in the Senate who has expertise in that area to tackle that problem."
Senate District 6, which stretches from Smyrna to Sandy Springs and takes in part of Atlanta, has become increasingly competitive in recent elections. Hunter Hill, who resigned last year to make an unsuccessful run for governor, ousted four-term Democratic state Sen. Doug Stoner in 2012 — the first election after the district was redrawn based on 2010 U.S. census numbers.
Republicans are keen on getting the seat back to regain their two-thirds majority, or supermajority, which would allow them to pass proposed constitutional amendments without any votes from the minority party.
Jordan emerged from a two-Democrat runoff in December. As soon as it was clear two Democrats would be heading to the runoff last year, Republicans began floating the possibility of altering the special election process by requiring party primary elections when a seat opens up. That bill cleared the state Senate but stalled in the House.
Money has poured into both campaigns.
Aldridge reported raising about $376,000 in campaign donations as of the Sept. 30 filing deadline. She has loaned her campaign an additional $175,000. Aldridge’s donors include nearly half of the Senate’s 37 Republican members, with an additional $2,600 coming from the Georgia Republican Senatorial Committee.
Jordan has received financial help from Democrats as well, with a handful of her Democratic colleagues in the Senate pitching in. The Democratic Party of Georgia also donated $2,600 through its Senate fund, according to filings.
Jordan had raised about $302,000 in contributions through Sept. 30. She loaned her campaign an additional $20,000.
The high-stakes race has gotten a little heated at times. During a candidate forum in Vinings earlier this month, Aldridge and Jordan — seated next to each other — traded barbs on everything from policy to calls for civility.
Aldridge pointed to a website financed by Jordan's campaign that the Republican said is attacking her. Jordan said the website, www.resultsnotpolitics.com, highlights what she calls inconsistencies in Aldridge's campaigning between the primary and general elections.
Jordan said the campaign launched the site in response to one Aldridge employed during the primary.
“I figured I’d return the favor,” Jordan said.
Attendees at the recent Vinings Village Civic Club forum said they were impressed with both candidates, despite their sniping.
Vinings resident Ron Sifer, who said he wasn’t sure who would get his vote, made a point to shake hands with both Aldridge and Jordan after the forum.
“I thought both did a really good job and made effective points on a variety of issues,” said Sifer, a retired banking fraud analyst. “Both really put forth an impressive case.”
OUR REPORTING
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is covering the issues and candidates up and down the ballot in a busy election year. Look for more at ajc.com/politics as the state heads for the general election on Nov. 6.
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