Home » Georgia (Page 20)
Category Archives: Georgia
Four southern U.S. Senate races are still too close to call
GOP holding leads in Arkansas and West Virginia; Democrats holding tough in Georgia and Kentucky
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
WASHINGTON (CFP) — Two weeks out from election day, races for four southern U.S. Senate seats — two held by each party — are still too close to call, with control of the Senate hanging in the balance.
The latest polling shows races in North Carolina, Kentucky and Georgia are within the margin of error, while the race in Louisiana now seems certain to be heading toward a December runoff.
Depending on how these Southern races turn out, the question of which party will control the Senate could linger for more than a month before runoffs in Louisiana and possibly Georgia.
U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton
However, Republicans appear poised to pick up an open Democratic seat in West Virginia, and GOP U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton appears to have opened up a small lead over incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Pryor in Arkansas.
Democrats hold only eight out of 28 southern Senate seats. One of those seats, in West Virginia, is likely gone, and three others — in Arkansas, Louisiana and North Carolina — are in jeopardy.
The good news for Democrats is that two GOP-held seats, in Kentucky and Georgia, have turned out to be surprisingly competitive, despite the Republican tilt in both of those states.
Here are the current states of the southern Senate races:
Arkansas: The race between Cotton and Pryor has been neck-and-neck for the better part of a year, as outside groups poured tons of money into the Natural
State. But a Talk Business and Politics/Hendrix College poll released October 15 showed that Cotton has opened up an 8-point lead, the third media poll in a row that put the challenger ahead.
Louisiana: Recent polling shows Democratic U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu and her chief Republican rival, U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, about even but both far from the 50 percent either would need to avoid a runoff in the state’s jungle primary, where all candidates from all parties run in the same race. That would set up a December 6 runoff between the two, a head-to-head match-up that’s still too close to call.
West Virginia: This race is to pick a successor to retiring Democratic U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller, and it looks increasingly like a GOP pickup, with U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito opening up a significant lead over Democratic Secretary of State Natalie Tennant. A CBS News/New York Times/YouGov poll in early October had Capito ahead by 23 points.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
Kentucky: The Senate’s top Republican, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is in a pitched battle with Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. Recent polls have shown the race as either too close to call or with McConnell slightly in the lead.
Georgia: This race, to pick a successor to retiring Republican U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss, is a contest between two political newcomers, Republican David Perdue and Democrat Michelle Nunn. Despite Georgia’ GOP tilt, Nunn has run a strong race, and the latest polling shows the contest within the margin of error. An interesting twist in Georgia is that if neither Perdue nor Nunn wins a majority, they would meet in a runoff December 10 — a possibility if the race is close and votes are syphoned off by third-party candidates.
North Carolina: Democratic U.S. Senator Kay Hagan is seeking a second term against Republican State House Speaker Thom Tillis. Recent polling has shown this race is also within the margin of error.
Former U.S. Senator Zell Miller endorses Democrat Michelle Nunn in Georgia Senate race
Miller, a popular two-term Democratic governor known for endorsing Republicans, cuts TV ad for Nunn
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
ATLANTA (CFP) — Former U.S. Senator Zell Miller has made a high-profile endorsement of fellow Democrat Michelle Nunn in Georgia’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race, a major boost to Nunn’s efforts to position herself as a moderate distant from national Democrats.
Former U.S. Senator Zell Miller
Miller, a Democrat who angered many in his party with his 2004 endorsement of President George W. Bush, has cut a television ad for Nunn that touts her as “a bridge builder, not a bridge burner.”
“I’m so angry about what’s going on in Washington — partisanship over patriotism. They can’t stop themselves, but we can stop them. Let’s send Michelle Nunn to the Senate,” Miller says in the ad. “Michelle Nunn gives this old Georgian hope.”
Nunn, the daughter of former Democratic U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, is running against Republican David Perdue, the cousin of former Republican Governor Sonny Perdue. Neither candidate has run for office before.
The Perdue camp has not directly responded to Miller’s endorsement.
Miller, 82, is a venerable — if unpredictable — figure in Georgia politics, serving four terms as lieutenant governor and two terms as governor before being appointed to the Senate in 2000 to replace the late Republican Paul
Coverdell.
In 2004, while still sitting as a Democrat in the Senate, he not only endorsed Bush but gave the keynote address at the Republican National Convention, where he offered a withering critique of the Democratic nominee, John Kerry. Miler did not seek re-election that year, but he rejected suggestions that he switch parties, opting to remain a Democrat.
In addition to Bush, Miller endorsed the Republican replaced him in the Senate, Johnny Isakson, and the state’s other Republican senator, Saxby Chambliss, whose retirement is opening up the seat Nunn is seeking. He was also co-chair of Newt Gingrich’s unsuccessful campaign for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012.
Recent polls have shown a close race, with Perdue slightly in the lead.
Perdue and outside conservative groups have been trying to tie Nunn to President Obama. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is in the middle of a $2.5 million ad buy calling Nunn “Obama’s senator.”
Unlike Democratic incumbents in the South who voted for Obamacare, Nunn does not have that vote to defend. But she has come under fire for evading a clear answer when asked whether she supports the president’s health care law.
View Zell Miller’s ad endorsing Michelle Nunn:
David Perdue wins Georgia GOP Senate runoff
Perdue defeats U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston and faces Democrat Michelle Nunn in November
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
ATLANTA (CFP) — First-time candidate David Perdue has taken a major step toward securing a seat in the U.S. Senate by narrowly winning the Republican runoff for Georgia’s open seat.
U.S. Senate nominee David Perdue
Perdue, a businessman from St. Simons Island, defeated U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, 59, an 11-term congressman from from Savannah, with 51 percent of the vote to 49 percent for Kingston.
Perdue led after the first round of primary voting on May 20. Although Kingston secured endorsements from the third and fourth place finishers in the crowded primary, Perdue carried the vote-rich Atlanta suburbs in the runoff to claim victory.
Perdue will now face Democrat Michelle Nunn, the daughter of former Georgia U.S. Senator Sam Nunn. Despite the Peach State’s Republican tilt, recent polling has shown a potentially competitive race this fall.
Perdue made clear in his victory speech that he plans to tie Nunn, who is running for office for the first time, to President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders in Washington.
“We’ve got a mission in front of us. Our opponent should not be taken lightly,” he said. “This fall, we’re going to have a clear choice. And that is a choice we’re going to have to win for our kids and grandkids. We’ve had enough of this the last six years.”
Democratic nominee Michelle Nunn
Nunn, 47, was the CEO of the Points of Light Foundation, affiliated with former Presdent George H.W. Bush.
During the heated runoff campaign, Kingston ran ads attacking Perdue’s conservative bona fides on issues including the Common Core education standards and immigration.
Perdue criticized the veteran congressman for being part of the high-spending Washington establishment.
The seat opened up when U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss decided to retire.
Bob Barr’s political comeback falls short in Georgia
Barr, a former GOP congressman and 2008 Libertarian presidential candidate, loses U.S. House runoff
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
MARIETTA, Georgia (CFP) — Bob Barr, a former GOP congressman who bolted the party to seek the Libertarian presidential nomination in 2008, has fallen short in his bid to return to Congress as a Republican.
Barr, 65, lost the GOP runoff for Georgia’s open 11th District U.S. House seat to former State Senator Barry Loudermilk, who took 69 percent of the vote to 31 percent for Barr. Loudermilk had led in the first round of balloting on May 20.
Loudermilk’s win means he will be headed to Congress because no Democrat filed to run in the 11th District, a heavily Republican enclave in Atlanta’s northwest suburbs.
Barr, a former federal prosecutor, was first elected to Congress in the Republican wave of 1994. But he was defeated in a primary in 2002 after the Democratic-controlled Georgia legislature dismembered his district, forcing him to run against another Republican incumbent, former U.S. Rep. John Linder.
By 2006, Barr had left the GOP for the Libertarian Party and was its presidential nominee in 2008. He won just 0.4 percent of the national vote.
There is precedent for Barr’s attempt at a Republican comeback. Former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul returned to Congress as a Republican in 1996 after running as the Libertarian nominee in 1988.
The 11th District seat opened up when U.S Rep. Phil Gingrey made an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell turns back Tea Party primary challenge
In Georgia, David Perdue and Jack Kingston advance to July 22 Republican primary runoff
♦By Rich Shumate, Chickenfriedpolitics.com editor
LOUISVILLE (CFP) — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell easily turned back a Tea Party-inspired challenge Tuesday to win the GOP nomination for a sixth term representing Kentucky.
Meanwhile, in Georgia, St. Simons businessman David Perdue and U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah won spots in a July 22 runoff for the Republican nomination for the Peach State’s open U.S. Senate seat.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
McConnell took 60 percent of the May 20 vote, compared to 36 percent for Louisville businessman Matt Bevin, who had the backing of outside Republican groups critical of McConnell’s leadership, including the Senate Conservatives Fund and FreedomWorks.
However, the commonwealth’s other senator, Rand Paul, bucked his Tea Party supporters to back McConnell.
McConnell will now face Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes in November.
U.S. Senate hopeful David Perdue
In Georgia, Perdue and Kingston sat atop a seven-candidate field, with Perdue at 31 percent and Kingston at 26. Former Secretary of State Karen Handel of Roswel came in third at 22 percent.
Two other sitting U.S. House members, Phil Gingrey and Paul Broun, trailed the three front-runners. Some establishment figures in the GOP had expressed concern that a victory by either Gingery or Broun would turn the Georgia seat into a Democratic target in November.
Michelle Nunn, the daughter of former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, easily won the Democratic Senate nomination for the seat current held by U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss.
Meanwhile, in Arkansas, Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Pryor and Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton both won their Senate primaries and will face off in November.
Chicken Fried Politics 