Rep. Ben Harbin, R-Evans, turned in a surprise resignation from state House of Representatives District 122, a large swath of Columbia County north of Interstate 20. He plans to work for the Southern Strategies Group government affairs firm, and is the sixth lawmaker this year who has announced their departure. Just the other day Rep. Barbara Sims, R-Augusta, said she’s not seeking re-election to House District 123 which also includes a portion of Columbia County.
No Democrat has a chance to represent Harbin’s turf, since it has voted Republican in every statewide contest in 2014— 74 percent for both U.S. Sen. David Perdue and Gov. Nathan Deal and 78 percent for Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. Mitt Romney also won 74 percent districtwide in the 2012 presidential election.
The district is very affluent— in fact, based on median household income, it is the second wealthiest in the state outside of metro Atlanta (behind only the Savannah area House District 166, represented by GOP Rep. Jesse Petrea, which includes the wealthy “island communities” in that area). Based on computation from Census Bureau data, median household income of Harbin’s district (2012 inflation-adjusted dollars) was about $84,000. As wealthy areas tend to be more liberal or libertarian on social issues, it probably is not surprising that the area voted handily– 65 percent– for Sunday retail alcohol sales in 2012
Harbin initially was elected to the House in 1994 from the old (then-existing) District 113 defeating then-incumbent Martha Moore by a 56-44 percent margin in that year’s July Republican primary. The insurance agent faced no Democratic opposition that fall, which wasn’t surprising given Columbia County’s long-time GOP tradition. The entire county, not just the portion in HD 122, hasn’t backed a Democratic candidate for president in nearly 40 years– not since Jimmy Carter’s defeat of then-President Gerald Ford.
As for the neighboring House District 123, geography may be a bone of contention in next year’s primary for this seat. Because Richmond County grew so little between 2000 and 2010, the county’s legislative districts had to expand in size. That forced Representative Sims’ district further into Columbia County during 2011 redistricting, so much so that Columbia has by far the largest portion of the district’s population.
Based on the 2010 census, 59 percent of the district’s population resides in Columbia County, compared to 41 percent in Richmond. Thus, if a Columbia County resident were to win this district in 2016, it would leave Richmond County without any Republican state legislators residing in that county. (The other four House members in the Richmond delegation are Democrats; the county’s only home senator, Harold Jones, is Democrat while the two Republicans who also represent the county— Bill Jackson and Jesse Stone— live in Columbia and Burke Counties respectively.)
Despite the population disparity between the Columbia and Richmond portions of HD 123, it isn’t impossible for a Richmond resident to win the GOP primary. In last year’s GOP U.S. Senate runoff, the Richmond portion of HD 123 outvoted the Columbia portion 54-46 percent, with about 2,200 Senate runoff votes cast in the Richmond portion of the district and 1,900 in Columbia. The disparity might be explained to the less transient nature of the Richmond side of the district. The Richmond portion of HD 123 has long since been mostly built out, while Columbia County has attracted more newcomers. It is a more transient population which might be less attuned to voting in primaries than voters on the Richmond side who have lived in that area for many years.
