Fifteen candidates have qualified for three open legislative seats in a Jan. 8 special election, including state Senate District 21, which former Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers represented before he recently resigned.
The contest for Rogers’ former seat in parts of Cherokee and Fulton counties will be the most watched, pitting Republican Brandon Beach, president and CEO of the North Fulton Chamber of Commerce, against former state Rep. Sean Jerguson, R-Canton. Beach challenged Rogers in the July primary and lost. Jerguson, re-elected to the House in November, resigned that seat to run for the Senate after Rogers exited last week for a job with Georgia Public Broadcasting.
Four Republicans, a Democrat and an independent have qualified to replace Jerguson in Cherokee County’s House District 21. The Republicans are attorney Bill Fincher, businessmen Brian Laurens, Kenneth Ashley Mimbs and Scot Turner, who lost to Jerguson in the primary. Democrat Natalie Bergeron, an attorney, and independent candidate Eduardo Correia also qualified.
Seven people qualified to run for rural Senate District 11, located in the state’s southwest corner. They include five Republicans: Marshall Berman, Dean Burke, Brad Hughes, Mike Keown and Eugene McNease. Also qualifying were Democrat Lisa Collins, an economic development director in Early County, and Libertarian candidate Jeffrey Bivins. Veteran state Sen. John Bulloch, R-Ochlocknee, resigned from District 11 last week while recovering from meningitis.
Qualifying ended Wednesday. Also on the Jan. 8 ballot is a third Senate seat, District 30, which includes portions of Carroll, Douglas and Paulding counties. The race, which was previously announced, pits Republican Mike Dugan against Libertarian James Camp. The seat came open when Gov. Nathan Deal named state Sen. Bill Hamrick a Superior Court judge on the Coweta Judicial Circuit.
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