ATLANTA — Former U.S. Rep. Paul Broun announced Wednesday that he plans to return to Congress by unseating a former Republican colleague in a neighboring district, Rep. Doug Collins.
Broun gave up his 10th District seat two years ago to run for the U.S. Senate but lost in the Republican primary. He doesn’t live in the 9th District that Collins represents, but that’s not a legal requirement.
“I made this decision knowing this election won’t be easy,” Broun said in a fundraising letter. “But I am running because our conservative values are under attack and have never been in greater jeopardy. We need a proven conservative leader who will stand up at all costs for our beliefs.”
Collins, a Baptist preacher whose tenure in the state legislature was interrupted while he served as an Army chaplain overseas,is a native of the district and generally considered conservative. Broun’s seat is held by Republican Jody Hice who is a Broun protege.
Collins has already qualified to be a candidate in the 9th, and so did Cleveland educator Roger Fitzpatrick who also will run in the Republican primary.
Wednesday’s qualifying turned up a challenger for the legislator who caused a flap when he called another lawmaker a terrorist and who argued the Ku Klux Klan was more focused on enforcing civil behavior than racism. State Rep. Tommy Benton, R-Jefferson, caused a stir early in this year’s legislative session when he sponsored bills to prohibit the moving of historic markers,the renaming of streets or alterations to Stone Mountain Park. He withdrew the proposals from consideration after House leaders blanched at the controversy that resulted from people upset about a Confederate supporter who shot to death nine blacks in a Charleston church.
Benton, a retired teacher from Jefferson and chairman of the House Retirement Committee, now has to face Commerce insurance agency Wes Lewis in the Republican primary May 24.
The chairman of the Augusta legislative delegation, state Rep. Wayne Howard, will have a challenge in the Democratic primary from retiree Gregory Hill who qualified Wednesday.
And in the House district left vacant by the death of Rep. Bob Bryant, D-Garden City, another candidate who had qualified in this month’s special election signed up Wednesday for the general election as well, Carl Gilliard of Garden City, CEO ofFeed the Hungry Inc. Savannah business owner Josey Sheppard Jr. qualified for the general election Monday. Both are running as Democrats.
