Best write up yet of the 10th race from CQ
Special Election for Georgia’s 10th District to Occur in June
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By Rachel Kapochunas
Published: February 22, 2007
The special election to replace the late Republican Rep. Charlie Norwood in Georgia’s 10th Congressional District will take place June 19, according to a writ of election issued Thursday morning by Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue. Press Release
The winner in this strongly Republican-leaning district — either in the June 19 vote if one candidate wins outright with a majority, or in a July runoff between the top two vote-getters if no one wins a majority — will succeed the popular Norwood, who died of cancer Feb. 13 just more than a month after he was sworn in to the seventh term he easily won last November.
According to the governor’s office, June 19 is the next possible special election date as set forth in Georgia law that also would allow for county, municipal and/or sales tax issue elections to be held on the same day. State officials had previously expressed their desire to consolidate elections to economize and hopefully draw more voters to the polls.
The governor — with agreement from Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, a Republican — also set the qualifying period for the special election to allow state legislators seeking to run for Norwood’s seat to finish the legislative session which is expected to run through March. State law requires sitting public officials who wish to run in the special election to resign their seats when they qualify for the race.
According to a statement released by the governor’s office, the qualifying period will be set “after the General Assembly session concludes, allowing any state legislators who may run to fulfill their duties in the General Assembly while giving candidates an adequate amount of time to campaign.”
The governor, under the guidelines set in state law for the timing of elections to fill House vacancies, had the option of setting the special election date as early as mid- to late March. Some candidates have already protested that the June 19 date, which was first reported in an Atlanta Journal Constitution story Wednesday, leaves the seat vacant for an extended period of time.
But the governor expressed his desire to also avoid open legislative seats. “Since qualification for this election will likely create vacancies in other elected offices, I am hopeful that all of those seats could be filled on one election day,” Perdue said.
On June 19, all candidates of all parties will run on a single ballot that will require the winner to receive a majority of the vote to be declared the outright winner. If that does not occur, the top two vote-getters, again regardless of party, will advance to a runoff four weeks later July 17.
The district was altered in 2005 when the Republican-led state legislature completed a mid-decade redistricting plan. Norwood’s 9th district was renumbered the 10th, and Democratic areas that long composed the home base of 12th District Democratic Rep. John Barrow were annexed to the 10th.
Still, the area remains heavily Republican, and reapportioned numbers show that 10th District voters would have supported President Bush with 65 percent of the vote in 2004.
The vacancy has already drawn two Republican state senators as candidates: Jim Whitehead and Ralph T. Hudgens. Whitehead’s staff claims to have the support of Norwood’s team, and state Rep. Barry Fleming chose to endorse Whitehead instead of launching his own campaign.
The newest entry is physician Paul Broun, an Athens resident who was an unsuccessful Republican House nominee in 1990 and then staged two unsuccessful primary bids for Congress in that decade.
At the least, Broun — who announced his candidacy Wednesday night at the College Republicans meeting at the University of Georgia, located in his hometown — represents the generational change in the state’s partisan politics. His father was a state senator from 1963 to 2000, and like most Georgia officeholders at the time was a Democrat.
But the younger Broun joined up with the Republican Party, which by the 1990s was the ascendant party in the South. So far, that affiliation has not brought him personal success in politics, though.
In 1990, Broun was unopposed for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Rep. Richard Ray, but lost by 63 percent to 37 percent. In 1992, Broun lost a GOP House primary to Mac Collins, who went on to unseat Ray and serve the next 12 years in the House.
In 1996, Broun tried his luck in statewide politics, running in the Republican Senate primary, but he finished fourth of six candidates with just 3 percent of the vote.
Other Republicans are rumored to be mulling a bid. Republican Bob Young, a former mayor of Augusta, is considered a possible candidate. The Athens-Banner Herald reported Monday that Willie Green, a former National Football League player who was born in the district, is interested in running either as a Republican or an independent.
One candidate has already entered on the Democratic side: Terry Holley, a small-business owner who lost by nearly a 2-to-1 ratio as the 2006 Democratic nominee against Norwood. Former Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Tom Chasteen is rumored to be weighing a bid, as well as state Rep. Alan Powell and lawyer David Bell, who as the 1996 Democratic challenger gave Norwood the closest race of his House career, holding him to 52 percent.
© 2006 Congressional Quarterly
By Rachel Kapochunas
Published: February 22, 2007
The special election to replace the late Republican Rep. Charlie Norwood in Georgia’s 10th Congressional District will take place June 19, according to a writ of election issued Thursday morning by Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue. Press Release
The winner in this strongly Republican-leaning district — either in the June 19 vote if one candidate wins outright with a majority, or in a July runoff between the top two vote-getters if no one wins a majority — will succeed the popular Norwood, who died of cancer Feb. 13 just more than a month after he was sworn in to the seventh term he easily won last November.
According to the governor’s office, June 19 is the next possible special election date as set forth in Georgia law that also would allow for county, municipal and/or sales tax issue elections to be held on the same day. State officials had previously expressed their desire to consolidate elections to economize and hopefully draw more voters to the polls.
The governor — with agreement from Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, a Republican — also set the qualifying period for the special election to allow state legislators seeking to run for Norwood’s seat to finish the legislative session which is expected to run through March. State law requires sitting public officials who wish to run in the special election to resign their seats when they qualify for the race.
According to a statement released by the governor’s office, the qualifying period will be set “after the General Assembly session concludes, allowing any state legislators who may run to fulfill their duties in the General Assembly while giving candidates an adequate amount of time to campaign.”
The governor, under the guidelines set in state law for the timing of elections to fill House vacancies, had the option of setting the special election date as early as mid- to late March. Some candidates have already protested that the June 19 date, which was first reported in an Atlanta Journal Constitution story Wednesday, leaves the seat vacant for an extended period of time.
But the governor expressed his desire to also avoid open legislative seats. “Since qualification for this election will likely create vacancies in other elected offices, I am hopeful that all of those seats could be filled on one election day,” Perdue said.
On June 19, all candidates of all parties will run on a single ballot that will require the winner to receive a majority of the vote to be declared the outright winner. If that does not occur, the top two vote-getters, again regardless of party, will advance to a runoff four weeks later July 17.
The district was altered in 2005 when the Republican-led state legislature completed a mid-decade redistricting plan. Norwood’s 9th district was renumbered the 10th, and Democratic areas that long composed the home base of 12th District Democratic Rep. John Barrow were annexed to the 10th.
Still, the area remains heavily Republican, and reapportioned numbers show that 10th District voters would have supported President Bush with 65 percent of the vote in 2004.
The vacancy has already drawn two Republican state senators as candidates: Jim Whitehead and Ralph T. Hudgens. Whitehead’s staff claims to have the support of Norwood’s team, and state Rep. Barry Fleming chose to endorse Whitehead instead of launching his own campaign.
The newest entry is physician Paul Broun, an Athens resident who was an unsuccessful Republican House nominee in 1990 and then staged two unsuccessful primary bids for Congress in that decade.
At the least, Broun — who announced his candidacy Wednesday night at the College Republicans meeting at the University of Georgia, located in his hometown — represents the generational change in the state’s partisan politics. His father was a state senator from 1963 to 2000, and like most Georgia officeholders at the time was a Democrat.
But the younger Broun joined up with the Republican Party, which by the 1990s was the ascendant party in the South. So far, that affiliation has not brought him personal success in politics, though.
In 1990, Broun was unopposed for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Rep. Richard Ray, but lost by 63 percent to 37 percent. In 1992, Broun lost a GOP House primary to Mac Collins, who went on to unseat Ray and serve the next 12 years in the House.
In 1996, Broun tried his luck in statewide politics, running in the Republican Senate primary, but he finished fourth of six candidates with just 3 percent of the vote.
Other Republicans are rumored to be mulling a bid. Republican Bob Young, a former mayor of Augusta, is considered a possible candidate. The Athens-Banner Herald reported Monday that Willie Green, a former National Football League player who was born in the district, is interested in running either as a Republican or an independent.
One candidate has already entered on the Democratic side: Terry Holley, a small-business owner who lost by nearly a 2-to-1 ratio as the 2006 Democratic nominee against Norwood. Former Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Tom Chasteen is rumored to be weighing a bid, as well as state Rep. Alan Powell and lawyer David Bell, who as the 1996 Democratic challenger gave Norwood the closest race of his House career, holding him to 52 percent.
© 2006 Congressional Quarterly
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