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Spirited challenges for several House and Senate seats in the Georgia Legislature have enlivened the races in Tuesday’s primary election, with a number of them expected to be decided in July runoffs.
Some intraparty contests are testing the power of Georgia tea party groups similar to two years ago, when they managed to defeat several incumbents. Other races reflect the kind of jostling that happens when an incumbent doesn’t run again, including several state lawmakers who are gunning for higher office.
Among them: state Sen. Jason Carter, D-Atlanta, is running for governor; state Rep. Ed Lindsey, R-Atlanta, is running for Congress; and state Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan, D-Austell, is running for state schools superintendent.
Yet with every House and Senate seat up for election in 2014, other legislative stalwarts have come under fire, including House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge; Senate Regulated Industries and Utilities Chairman Jack Murphy, R-Cumming; and Sen. Don Balfour, R-Snellville, his chamber’s longest-serving Republican, who was cleared last year of criminal charges that he improperly claimed travel expenses.
Observers aren’t so sure voters are ready to cast out the lot but said the races will be worth watching to measure the lasting power of Georgia’s restive political landscape.
“The Georgia tea party is doing what they can,” said Kerwin Swint, a Kennesaw State University political scientist and former GOP activist. “Will they continue to be a constructive part of the process or more or less march into an outlier status?”
Most significantly in the House is the contest in North Georgia’s 7th District, where Ralston faces a tea party challenge from Gilmer County High School wrestling coach Sam Snider. Tea party leaders and activists from outside the district have made Ralston their top target, although the speaker’s well-funded campaign is expected to prevail.
Tea partyers have also set their sights on the Senate’s Murphy and Balfour. Murphy, who eked out a 114-vote win two years ago for the chamber’s 27th District, is being challenged in the GOP primary by Michael Williams, a local businessman with ties to the Forsyth County Tea Party, and Lauren McDonald III, the county coroner and son of longtime politician and state Public Service Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald.
Balfour two years ago drew tea party ire while under suspicion of the charges he beat last year. Then, he crushed two challengers for the 9th District seat with more than 60 percent of the vote. Now, he again faces two challengers, but this time as an exonerated man: the tea party-backed former Gwinnett County Commissioner Mike Beaudreau and former Lawrenceville City Councilman P.K. Martin.
If there is any doubt the men still have the support of their Senate colleagues, several have gone door to door for the two, including Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who faces no primary opposition for re-election. Cagle said this week that he was “confident that voters will recognize the outstanding accomplishments of the Republican senators running to continue to ably represent their constituents.”
It’s not just the tea party, however, that has staked out ground in the election. Business leaders have put money behind efforts to defeat at least two legislators with significant tea party support. And education critics have also chimed in against the House’s longtime Education Committee chairman.
In Cobb County’s 34th District, Rep. Charles Gregory, R-Kennesaw, faces Bert Reeves, and in Cherokee County’s 22nd District, Rep. Sam Moore, R-Ball Ground, faces Meagan Biello and Wes Cantrell.
Gregory and Moore have drawn the ire of House leadership; both routinely cast the only “no” votes on routine legislation.
Voters in Gregory’s district have been bombarded by mailings put out by the Georgia Coalition for Job Creation. The group is trying to oust Gregory, as well as Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine. The coalition had raised about $380,000 as of mid-May, and it had spent $240,000.
A few big businesses are behind the coalition. Georgia Power Co., the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola each contributed $50,000, and SunTrust Banks gave an additional $25,000. Several lobbyists also contributed to the fund.
John Garst, a veteran Atlanta Republican pollster, said both Moore and Gregory are in trouble, but Moore has a better chance of winning should he force a runoff.
“These guys could skate back in,” Garst said, “but I can’t imagine both of them make it.”
Meanwhile, in Gwinnett County, House Education Committee Chairman Brooks Coleman, R-Duluth, faces two challengers in the 97th District: Jef Fincher and Dahlys Hamilton. Coleman has been criticized by some on the right for leading the effort this year to derail a bill opposing national academic standards partially adopted in Georgia called Common Core.
Fincher, a longtime county GOP activist, has landed support from Herman Cain. He’s also been endorsed by WSB Radio personality Erick Erickson, who blasted Coleman on his show. “I can’t support people who support Common Core,” Erickson said.
Garst said he expects both Ralston and Coleman to win but said the only black Republican in the General Assembly, Rep. Willie Talton, R-Warner Robins, has a tough fight. Talton faces political newcomer Health Clark on Tuesday.
Freshman Sen. Mike Dugan, R-Carrollton, is also in a primary battle — but against political veteran Bill Hembree, who after 18 years in the House resigned his seat two years ago to run for the state Senate, only to be beaten by Dugan in a runoff for the 30th District seat.
On the Democratic side of the primary, a handful of contests feature unique legislative matchups.
Former state Rep. Elena Parent and attorney Kyle Williams traded barbs this week over their efforts to win the Democratic primary for Senate District 42, which Carter is leaving for his run at the governorship.
In Atlanta’s House District 58, Rep. Simone Bell, D-Atlanta, faces lawyer and activist Erica Long. Long is the wife of former state Rep. Ralph Long, who held the seat until 2012, when he and Bell were drawn into the same district. Bell won then, and now it’s Mrs. Long who is out to challenge Bell.
Meanwhile, on the Southside, incumbent Rep. Valencia Stovall, D-Ellenwood, faces former Reps. Yasmin Neal and Roberta Abdul-Salaam.
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