Anne Westbrook announces candidacy for Savannah's District 163 in the Georgia House

Democrat Anne Westbrook will be running to represent Savannah's House District 163 in the 2022 election.

Westbrook's announcement came the day after current House 163 Rep. Derek Mallow announced he would pursue Savannah's Senate District 2 seat this year. 

Westbrook lost the 2020 race for the same position to Mallow by just 19 votes.  This time, Westbrook says she's ready to get some face time with constituents to hear their concerns, a campaign strategy dampened by COVID-19 the last time she ran.

Background

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Westbrook, a Savannah native, has been an attorney at Johnson Kraeuter, LLC, since 2013. She earned her undergraduate degree from Hollin's College in Virginia and her law degree from the University of Georgia's School of Law.

Previously, Westbrook worked as the state legislative lead for the Georgia Chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Additionally, Westbrook was a commissioner on the City of Savannah's Cultural Affairs Commission.

Additionally, she worked as the pro se staff attorney for Chatham County Superior Court, and worked as an associate attorney with Bouhan, Williams and Levy, LLP, now called Bouhan Falligant.

Westbrook currently serves as a legislative aid to Georgia House 165 Rep. Edna Jackson (D-Savannah).

Platform

Westbrook has been involved in state-level politics since 2013, when she became the legislative point person for Moms Demand Action, and worked with the nonprofit on their mission to find educational and legislative solutions to gun violence.

And while gun violence prevention is a cause near and dear to Westbrook, she says she's "not a one-issue candidate."

Westbrook says she'll be running on a platform of expanding access to health care, ending Georgia's maternal mortality crisis, promoting public safety through sensible gun laws and protecting and expanding quality public education.

Additionally, voting rights issues have a prominent spot in Westbrook's platform. She pointed to the changes in S.B. 202, Georgia's controversial, Republican-passed voting law, noting the restrictions it brought to the absentee ballot process. 

"The access to ballot boxes has already been restricted, and there is some effort to even do away with them completely. I would be very much opposed to that," Westbrook said. "Democracy only works when everybody participates. So we should be looking for ways to make it easier for everyone to participate, not harder."

Overall, Westbrook said, her campaign strategy is to bring Democrats together under a big tent, adding that the newly redrawn district now includes much of Garden City to the west and stretches as far as Vernonburg to the south. The district, which used to be confined mostly to central Savannah, now covers much of the city's westside.

"We have real challenges facing the district, and we have a lot of inequality in the district, Westbrook said. "My skills as an advocate, as someone who reads the law every day as part of my job, the relationships that I've built over the last 10 years — I think I can use all of those to help move the district forward, and that's what I want to do."

Will Peebles is the enterprise reporter for Savannah Morning News. He can be reached at wpeebles@gannett.com and @willpeeblessmn on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Anne Westbrook announces candidacy for Savannah's District 163 in the Georgia House