By: Eli Watkins
Rep. Paul Broun, M.D., of the 10th District, which includes Athens-Clarke County, Milledgeville, and Winder, has received a mixture of scorn and praise since he took office in 2007. Broun is running for retiring Senator Saxby Chambliss’ seat. Whether he successfully ascends to the Senate or his career goes the way of the wooly mammoth, the race for his seat in the 10th District is wide open.
Seven of the eight candidates who qualified for the ballot are Republicans, so there will not be a Democratic primary. The crowded republican field means the tightest race is likely to be the Republican primary on May 20, not the general election in November. The overwhelming partisan imbalance reflects the fact that the 10th District leans heavily conservative. According to the Cook Political Report, this district’s voters voted for Mitt Romney by a margin of 26 percentage points in the 2012 presidential election. That same year, Broun won the general election unopposed, despite 4,000 write-in-votes for deceased English biologist Charles Darwin. Barring any unforeseen circumstances involving their eventual nominee, the Republican primary will decide the election.
Some of the candidates in the Republican primary differ on rhetoric, but their policy stances and mutual distaste for President Obama show they agree on broad political principles. The fact that Georgia Right to Life, the embattled pro-life organization, has endorsed five of them so far shows how similar some of their beliefs are. Their backgrounds include military service, business experience, grassroots involvement, and tenure in the state legislature. Here are the candidates in no particular order:
- Mike Collins is a business owner from Jackson, Georgia. He is the son of former Rep. Mac Collins, who defeated Rep. Broun in a 1992 primary contest. Collins has spent much of his life running his own trucking company, and he has served on the boards of Georgia’s Associated Credit Union and Motor Trucking Association and as president of Butts County’s Chamber of Commerce. His campaign’s focus is on his private sector experience. Brandon Phillips, a consultant for the campaign, claimed, “He’s the only one with real business experience.” On the issues, Collins is a conservative candidate in general agreement with his opponents. He is against tax increases, same-sex marriage, and the availability of abortions totally. He supports the FairTax, robust military spending, and gun rights. According to the FEC, Collins’ disclosures show $385,607 in total contributions and loans so far.
- Gary Gerrard is a former Army officer and Athens native. He is a practicing attorney and former adjunct law professor at a number of universities, including the University of Georgia. He supports a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and advocates the creation of a budget reconciliation commission to increase action on budget cuts in the style of a mechanism Congress employed to close military bases. He wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act and abolish the Department of Education to limit the federal government’s involvement in the areas of healthcare and education. Perhaps the most clarifying point about Gerrard is his attitude concerning originalism, a conservative approach to the Constitution commonly associated with Georgia’s own Justice Clarence Thomas. When asked about what distinguishes him from his opponents, Gerrard said, “There is at least one person in this race, maybe more, that has an originalist intent of the constitution that I believe is naive.” Gerrard’s professed disdain for this branch of legal thought sets him apart from some of his opponents more ideologically similar to Rep. Broun. Gerrard’s disclosures to the FEC show $141,579 in contributions and loans so far.
- Jody Hice is a radio host and minister living in Walton County whose religious and political views are closely intertwined. In a forum hosted by the Newton Conservative Liberty Alliance and the Covington News, Hice summed up his appeal when he said, “I’m a Christian. I’m a constitutionalist. I’m a conservative.” Hice is proud of his fight with the American Civil Liberties Union over the Barrow County courthouse’s display of the Ten Commandments, a fight that the ACLU won, resulting in the removal of the religious display and a $150,000 legal reimbursement paid for by the taxpayer. In 2008, he joined 30 other pastors in protesting an IRS code of not preaching politics in the pulpit by telling his congregation to vote for Sen. John McCain. Perhaps the most overtly Broun-esque candidate, Hice takes some of the most absolutist conservative positions, such as his campaign promise not to raise the debt ceiling and the adoption of Broun’s four-point legislative test, which requires a bill to meet his standards of constitutional originalism, Judeo-Christian morality, necessity, and affordability. According to the FEC, Hice’s disclosures show $345,227 in total contributions so far.
- Donna Sheldon has the dual distinction of being the only woman and prior office holder in the race. She served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2003-2013 when she resigned to focus on her congressional campaign. She was Chair of the House Majority Caucus and helped craft a bill on the House Transportation Committee that led to the T-SPLOST referendum in 2012, which failed at the polls. Her work in the Georgia legislature earned her praise from several right-leaning organizations. The American Conservative Union gave her a 100 percent rating. The Susan B. Anthony List, a national pro-life organization, endorsed her in this race for her firm history of support for pro-life initiatives. According to the FEC, Sheldon’s disclosures show $467,340 in total contributions and loans, which means her campaign is the best funded so far.
- Stephen Simpson is a retired military officer from Milledgeville. No stranger to running in this district, Simpson lost to Broun in the 2012 primary. The support of former Governor Sonny Perdue distinguishes Simpson in the crowded field. Simpson is also a former member of the intelligence community. When he brought up this point at the NCLA and Covington News forum, he said wryly, “When I worked for the NSA, we didn’t overreach.” Whether in person or online, Simpson often references the Obama administration’s controversies like the attack in Benghazi, Libya and discriminatory IRS practices, popular topics among the republican base. Like his opponents, Simpson also focuses on non-military budget cuts and deregulation to increase employment. According to the FEC, Simpson’s disclosures show $219,225 in total contributions and loans so far.
- Brian Slowinski is a self-described non-establishment, conservative tea party Republican candidate, and to the observer, it appears this man from Martinez has earned that slew of labels. Whether it is his trademark of repeating his name three times or his homemade announcement video on YouTube, people can see Slowinski was being honest when he said, “I’m not part of the professional political class.” Slowinski holds Rep. Broun in high esteem, and it seems he would vote similarly to the tea party favorite. His issue positions for the most part are similar to the rest of the candidates. However, Slowinski also has an anti-establishment and libertarian bent. He supports replacing Speaker John Boehner with a more conservative alternative and auditing the Federal Reserve. Slowinski’s campaign has no funds listed in the FEC’s disclosure portal so far.
- S. Mitchell Swan is a Marine Colonel from Athens. According to his website, Swann worked on U.S. policy for the Middle East when he was a staff officer with U.S. Central Command. Given his background, it is no surprise that Swann focuses more often on international issues than the other candidates. Demonstrating his perspective in this regard, he said, “We are the last nation of consequence in Western Civilization.” However, he does share many of the same domestic concerns as his opponents. He supports budget cuts, including the elimination of the Departments of Education and Urban Development, and a flat tax. One area he may differ from his opponents on is immigration. Swan advocates a plan to offer undocumented immigrants windows of opportunities to pay fees and ultimately gain citizenship. According to the FEC, Swan’s campaign has raised $12,531 in contributions and loans so far.
Republican voters will decide which of the seven candidates of those listed above to put on the general election ballot. If none of the Republican candidates wins a majority of the first round primary vote, then the top two performers will compete in a runoff election on July 22.
The eventual nominee will go on to face Ken Dious, the sole Democrat in the race. He is a civil rights lawyer in Athens. According to his website, Dious “was the first African-American student at University of Georgia to integrate the football team and wear a Bulldog uniform.” He served as a delegate for Obama in the 2008 Democratic National Convention. To democratic activists, this campaign seems like a good chance for Dious–or any other Democrats looking for footholds in the area one day–to build up support for a future election as the state’s demographics change. When asked about this campaign, Dious said, “I think my chance is good, but we’re trying to get my message out.” His campaign has very little money compared to some of his opponents. His FEC disclosures show $11,395 in contributions so far.
So far, the qualifying process narrowed the 700,000 or so people in the 10th District down to eight possible candidates. Now it is up to the voters to make that last jump down to one representative. The voters of the 10th District have a veritable butcher shop of red meat available to them. Whether they choose a candidate from the same cut as Rep. Broun or opt for something different remains to be seen.
