As candidates qualify for the May 22 primary election, one North Georgia congressman is facing opposition from within his own party.
Incumbent US Representative Jody Hice will face competition in the May 22 Republican primary. Businessman Bradley Griffin has qualified to run against Hice. There is also a contested race on the Democratic side, between teacher Chalis Montgomery and philosophy professor Richard Dien Winfield.
In state legislative races, two recently-elected state legislators have drawn opposition from familiar faces. Republican Houston Gaines has qualified to run against incumbent state representative Deborah Gonzalez. Gaines lost to Gonzalez in a special election in November of last year. Republican Steven Strickland, who earned just over 6% of the vote in a four-way special election in November, has qualified to run in house district 119, a seat held by Democrat Jonathan Wallace.
Republican Joe Hunt, an executive with Zaxby’s, and Augusta Democrat Kellie Lynn Collins have also announced their candidacies in the 10th district congressional race, although neither had qualified as of midday Tuesday.