While most state legislators will be looking to take a little time off this summer ahead of this fall’s special redistricting session, a pair of special state House elections are on the docket on June 15th – one of which could see a seat flip blue.
The first, HD 156 in South Georgia, was opened when former state Rep. Greg Morris was appointed to the Georgia Department of Transportation’s State Transportation Board. The longtime representative of the reliably red district has faced primaries in recent cycles, (including a 1 percent victory in 2014) but no general election challenges in over a decade. Thus, it seems likely that one of the two Republicans in the race – Leesa Hagan or Wally Sapp – will succeed Morris at the State Capitol.
Cobb County’s HD 34 is the more interesting race to keep an eye on – it has a near 50/50 split in terms of registered Democrats and Republicans, and the Dems will assuredly be targeting it as a district to swing ahead of the 2022 midterms.
The Kennesaw and Marietta-based seat opened when Bert Reeves resigned on April 30th to take a job with his alma mater, Georgia Tech, as its vice-president of university relations. The popular Reeves most recently won re-election in November by 13 points. A full and qualified field quickly lined up to bid to replace him. His opponent in that race, Democrat Priscilla Smith, is running again, as is Democrat Sam Hensley, Jr., Republicans David Blinkhorn and Devan Seabaugh, and Libertarian Chris Neill.
Smith, a former music teacher, has already made some inroads in the district, running just last year. Hensley meanwhile is a solicitor in the municipal courts of Kennesaw, Acworth and Powder Springs, and is also the assistant city attorney for Kennesaw. He has deep political roots of his own – his father was a state Rep. and Senator, and he interned for U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn.
Blinkhorn has Kennesaw ties, serving on the city council as well as being active in the Cobb Municipal Association and Cobb County GOP. Seabaugh is a longtime EMT who currently serves as an executive for MetroAtlanta Ambulance.
Special elections in Georgia do not currently have a primary, so all the candidates will be on the same ballot, with the top two vote getters (should one not break the 50 percent +1 barrier) moving to a runoff on July 13th. With not much else on the ballot for now, look for some big names to get involved.
