Political focus in Georgia right now is centered around two things – the legislative session which started earlier this month and the upcoming Presidential primaries on March 1st. House races are a distant afterthought, in fact legislators aren’t even allowed to fundraise during the session, so it’s a mandated distant afterthought.
Georgia HD 58
But not so for candidates and voters in House District 58, a lovely gerrymandered little district covering parts of midtown and Virginia Highlands in East Atlanta. A special election to replace Simone Bell, who left office in November to work for Lambda Legal, a LGBT-oriented law firm. Bell, who first took office in 2009, was among the first members of the LGBT community to be elected in the state.
Vying to replace her are three candidates, all Democrats in the heavily left leaning district – Kwame Thompson, Park Cannon, and Ralph Long. Long is the only candidate of the three with prior legislative experience, serving in the State House from 2008 to 2012, when he was defeated by Bell after redistricting put the two in the same House District. Cannon leads the trio in fundraising with over $17,000 on hand, and appears to be the front-runner in what promises to be a low turnout affair.
