State Sen. Chuck Payne represents Gordon, Murray, Pickens and Whitfield Counties where now-President Donald Trump carried overwhelmingly in November 2016. Payne said at the time he was a proud Trump supporter, yet his recent statements have led to criticism that he is straying from Trump’s illegal immigration views as well as those of GOP gubernatorial nominee Brian Kemp.
Both Payne and his Democratic Party opponent made news recently by saying they support the HOPE scholarships for illegal immigrant “Dreamers.”
During a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Dalton Area, Payne said “I know young men and women who have grown up here in Whitfield County. I don’t know their parents’ legal status. But they are Georgians. And these kids, they’re as Georgian as anybody else and as Georgian as my kids.”
Payne said Congress needs to pass a long-term solution for “Dreamers” who are receiving temporary protection through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which was unilaterally declared by former President Barack Obama.
When asked about giving the HOPE scholarship to non-citizens by a Chattanooga Free-Press reporter, Payne said “If it were up to me, I’d be for it.”
His opponent, Democrat Michael Morgan, says that he also supports using the merit -based scholarship designated for Georgia students for the illegal “Dreamers.”
InsiderAdvantage now hears there are rumblings within Republican circles that Payne should again face a more conservative primary opponent. The incumbent barely survived a GOP primary this summer by limping past late entry Scott Tidwell, a pastor and assistant funeral home director from Resaca, with 4,999 votes (52.85 percent) to 4559 votes (47.17 percent).
