There will be a great deal of turnover at the Gold Dome this year, with competitive races up and down the ballot. While emphasis is on the “up,” where the races for governor, lt. governor, and secretary of state all promise to be highly competitive, there are no bigger shoes to fill than those of state Rep. Calvin Smyre, D-Columbus, who is stepping down to become the U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic.
Smyre, the longest-serving member of the General Assembly, has been a fixture at the Capitol and in state politics for nearly 50 years. Elected as a 26 year old in 1974, then the youngest member of the House, the Columbus-born and raised Democrat has held nearly every title and filled every role imaginable during his time in office, becoming one of the key dealmakers between parties and garnering the utmost respect from both sides of the aisle.
You can’t expect a freshman lawmaker to carry quite that same cachet, but one will indeed fill his seat in the newly-redrawn HD-140, where a pair of Democrats are vying to succeed the Dean of the House.
With no Republican in the race for the left-leaning seat, whoever wins the primary between Zeph Baker and Teddy Reese will become Columbus’ newest state representative come January. Both men boast experience in local politics, and the race is expected to be close.
Zeph Baker
Baker owns a healthcare business, and his platform ticks most of the expected Democratic boxes – affordable housing, improving access to education, and ‘living wages,’ among others. He also voices support for high speed rail, an idea that has bounced around the Capitol in recent years but failed to gain much traction. Baker told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer recently that he “represents a change from the “good-ole-boy” way of doing things to the new progressive, compassionate, hands-on way of doing things.”
But Baker is no stranger to Columbus-area politics, first running against Smyre as an Independent in 2008, then forcing Teresa Tomlinson into a mayoral runoff in 2010 before coming up short, and most recently finishing a distant 2nd to Skip Henderson for the same seat in 2018.
His opponent, Teddy Reese, may have more establishment support.
Teddy Reese
The managing attorney & owner of The Reese Firm, a Columbus-based personal injury firm, Reese boasts a resume heavy in civic activism, serving on the United Way of Chattahoochee Valley Board of Directors as the Chairman of the National Board of Youth Advocacy Programs. In 2020 he unsuccessfully ran against Ed Harbison in Georgia Senate District 15.
He was confident in his interview with the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, “The citizens of District 140 know I have been present and involved. There are no gaps in my education, my resume, my experience, my community engagement, my passion, nor my commitment to the citizens of 140.”
Baker boasts the endorsements of “10 other current elected leaders,” including State Rep. Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus, who has served in a district neighboring Smyre’s for nearly 30 years.
