Augusta Chronicle cartoonist Rick McKee’s take on John Barrow for SOS
Democrat John Barrow is trying to energize the party’s base in the effort to defeat Republican businessman Brad Raffensperger in the Dec. 4th runoff election for secretary of state. A majority of that base statewide is comprised of African-American voters but unfortunately for Barrow, who is white, he is opposed by well-known black Augusta Democrat Charles Walker.
Walker, once the state Senate Majority Leader before going to prison for about a decade, has long despised former U.S. Congressman Barrow. Some Augusta insiders say a grudge began when Barrow refused to support Walker’s son Champ in a congressional race years ago. Other say the liberal Walker just doesn’t like white “conservative” Democrats.
Whatever the reason, Walker has posted the following on his Facebook page:
“Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to review the voting records of former Congressman John Barrow, and I walked away very disappointed. He prides himself on being a Blue-Dog Democrat. However, he recently ran a commercial telling the community that he is a Democrat, but implies to Republicans that he ‘won’t bite them.’
“I don’t believe that we have to vote for the lesser of two evils. When it comes to matters important to our community, we need to support people who say what they mean and mean what they say. We don’t have to vote Republican; we can skip the vote altogether. There is no reason why African-Americans should race to the polls to vote for John Barrow. His presence will not improve our political participation.
