Congressman Paul Broun forfeited his 10th Congressional District in northeast and east Georgia by running for U.S. Senate and losing in the GOP primary. But his constituents needn’t miss a beat in having unorthodox leadership, providing they elect Baptist pastor and radio talk show host Jody Hice on July 22. Hice is in a runoff against political legacy Mike Collins, the son of former Georgia Congressman Mac Collins. Mike Collins owns a trucking company based in Jackson.
The 10th District stretches from eastern portions of Gwinnett County at its western extremity to the South Carolina border in the east, and from the northeast corner of the state southward to Augusta. Prominently it includes Athens, which was Paul Broun’s home and political base. Early voting starts June 30. The winner will face Democrat Kenneth Dious in the November general election. The 10th is heavily Republican.
Collins and Hice each won about 33 percent of the vote in the general primary, but conventional wisdom has Collins as the likely favorite in the runoff. He’s got name ID from being a former Congressman’s son, and superior fundraising prowess. (Newt Gingrich has endorsed him.)More than that, some political analysts believe the polarizing Hice has already gotten most of the support he is likely to win in the !0th, while Collins can expect voters for losing candidates in the primary to coalesce behind him in the runoff.
One could argue that because the quirky Paul Broun got elected and re-elected in the 10th, that the unapologetically social conservative Hice can do the same. But Broun fared comparatively well in the more left-leaning Athens because he too was a political legacy and because Athens was his home. Hice, on the other hand,
is from Walton County. He did not fare well in Athens precincts in the May primary.
But Hice has this potentially going for him: He is the more unconventional candidate in a year in which voters are showing signs of rejecting what they perceive to be the same old thing. And turnout for the runoff is expected to be abysmally low. If Hice’s supporters are as passionate about Hice’s views as Hice is, then potentially they could carry him to an upset over Collins and his more conventional supporters. Turnout is expected to be lower than the already low 26 percent that voted in the May primary.
What is so unconventional about Hice’s views on social issues? For one, he has espoused the belief that there is a conspiracy among homosexuals to ‘recruit’ children to their ranks, and he has compared homosexuality to incest and bestiality. He has thundered condemnation of the IRS from his church pulpit.
Hice also has invoked the ‘H’ word – Hitler – in criticisms of the pro-abortion lobby. He has publicly attacked Islam, and he has thoroughly politicized his pulpit by railing against President Obama.
Hice made his first political headlines in 2003 after the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Barrow County Board of Commissioners to force them to remove a display of the Ten Commandments from the county courthouse. Hice fiercely defended the display.
Hice also has at least one big name to back him. Nationally known radio talk show host and columnist Erick Erickson has endorsed him.
Hice’s assertiveness and unapologetic views have made him more than just a candidate in the 10th-district race. They have made him an issue himself – perhaps the issue. Voters in the 10th can vote for Hice or they can vote against him – as opposed to simply voting for Collins. Hice’s flamboyant policy positions have made the choice in this race that stark.
Hice has tried to leverage the results of this month’s congressional election in Virginia in which Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost his seat in a stunning upset to political upstart David Brat. Brat’s win has been generally interpreted as a victory of reformers over the status quo.
Name ID, campaign coffers and so-called social issues likely will decide this race, as Collins and Hice share similar views on reducing federal spending and the size of government. There’s been little to distinguish the two candidates on these issues, other than a game of ‘gotcha’ played by Hice when Collins made some ambivalent remarks about raising the federal debt ceiling.
The guess here is that Collins will prevail, both for some of the reasons already stated, and because of the Republican U.S. Senate runoff on the same day, between Congressman Jack Kingston and businessman David Perdue. That race likely will draw enough ‘conventional’ or ‘status quo’ voters to the polls to keep Hice from going to Washington.
