As we wrote yesterday, there’s only one active race in Georgia this holiday season – that to replace Charlie Bethel in Northwest Georgia’s Senate District 54.
Last week the two candidates who emerged from the November special election, Republican Chuck Payne and Independent (liberal) Debby Peppers, squared off at a candidate forum in Dalton. As expected the two candidates split along party lines on several major issues, including religious liberty legislation and state income tax.
Mailer sent to SD54 voters with incorrect voting date
State Republicans have come to the aid of Payne ahead of January’s runoff, worried that an undoubtedly small turnout just after the holiday season could allow Peppers and her Democrat allies to steal the seat out of what is a dark red district. Governor Nathan Deal, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, and other top members of the GOP joined Payne for a fundraiser in Atlanta last week, hoping to keep control of the seat held by Republican Charlie Bethel before he was named to the state Court of Appeals earlier this Fall.
The race saw its profile jump this week when voters in the district reported receiving a mailer with the incorrect voting date listed. The mailer was sent by a GOP Chair from the state’s 2nd Congressional district, which is all the way down near Columbus. Democrats have accused the GOP of trying to confuse voters, though it is unclear exactly whom the mailer was sent.
You can see the full debate between Payne and Peppers below.
