Four Republican challengers, including former state House Speaker Glenn Richardson, and one independent have qualified to run for state Senate District 30.

Richardson will face longtime state Rep. Bill Hembree, R-Winston; Jim Naughton, a Carroll County businessman; and Mike Dugan, a Carrollton building contractor, on a special Republican primary ballot Nov. 6 — the same day as the general election.

The race is especially notable because it represents Richardson’s first public attempt to rehabilitate his image. He resigned from office in 2009 after a suicide attempt and news of an affair with a lobbyist.

Whoever wins the primary contest will face Libertarian candidate James Camp, a Temple-based information technology worker, in a special general election Jan. 8. There is no special Democratic primary because none qualified earlier this year against the seat’s incumbent, Sen. Bill Hamrick, R-Carrollton.

District 30 includes portions of Carroll, Douglas and Paulding counties. The deadline to qualify was noon Friday. The seat came open after Gov. Nathan Deal named Hamrick a Superior Court judge on the Coweta Judicial Circuit.

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