There are four special elections in Georgia tomorrow for state House of Representatives seats but the one seat Republicans fear they could lose in a low-turnout, four-way contest is House District 80. It includes the city of Brookhaven and part of Sandy Springs. Former Brookhaven GOP Mayor J. Max Davis is running against Republicans Catherine Bernard and Loren Collins as well as Democrat Taylor Bennett.
Maverick attorney Bernard has recently been hurt in the GOP-leaning district by a “historic” endorsement from the left-wing Atlanta Progressive News which touts her as the “first Republican” it has ever backed. This endorsement is welcomed news for Davis, tarnished by revelations over what even one supporter labels a “stupid, frat boy prank” that led to a workplace harassment complaint by a city employee against the then-mayor. (The city attorney who tried to cover it up, in collusion with Davis, was forced to resign by the new mayor and City Council.)
One of the prime movers to establish the city of Brookhaven, an apologetic Davis is getting endorsements and donations from House Speaker David Ralston and other GOP elected officials.
In response to the APN’s questionnaire, Bernard supports legalization of cannabis, opposes the effort to reduce early voting time periods, has “concerns” about creating more suburban cities and opposes Gov. Nathan Deal’s Opportunity School District program that removes students from failing public schools. One of the main reasons the leftist organ didn’t support liberal Democrat Bennett, it says, is because he believes that nuclear power is “clean” and “efficient.” As for the self-described “Bull Moose” libertarian Collins, InsiderAdvantage can’t find any record of public or civic service by this attorney.
Not surprisingly, given the presence of two golf clubs in the district, the average GOP voter leans more toward the “country-club” side— more fiscally than socially conservative. In the 2012 GOP presidential primary, Romney got nearly half (49%) of the vote in this district (under the district’s current boundaries), well ahead of the 32% Newt Gingrich received and even farther ahead of the 10% for Rick Santorum and 8% for libertarian Ron Paul. In last November’s general election, Governor Deal carried the district over Democrat Jason carter with 54 percent of the vote.
Tomorrow’s election was sparked by the resignation of GOP incumbent Mike Jacobs, now a DeKalb County state court judge. Interestingly, Davis ran against Jacobs back in 2004 (when Jacobs was a Democrat) in the “old” House District 80, which prior to 2011 redistricting was confined to northwest DeKalb County, running from I-285 in the north to LaVista Road near Emory. Back then, the district was about evenly divided, as became clear when Jacobs defeated Davis for the seat by less than 400 votes (a 51to 49% margin). Redistricting following the 2010 census made the district more Republican friendly by subtracting Democratic precincts in DeKalb south of the Buford Highway and adding GOP voters in southeast Sandy Springs.
If no candidate gets a majority tomorrow, there will be a run-off between the top two vote getters. The big question: With a low turnout, especially since many voters are away on summer vacations, could the lone Democrat slip into the run-off?
