By Matthew S.L. Cate
Staff Writer
A 26-year-old Walker County Democrat said he hopes to earn his party’s nomination and oppose seven-term U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga., in the November general election.
Paul Blackwell, an auto mechanic for Wal-Mart, said the Republican incumbent has gone too long without serious opposition.
“I’m not happy with our representation right now, and I know a lot of people who aren’t happy either,” said Mr. Blackwell, a Ridgeland High School graduate making his first run for public office.
Qualifying for elected office begins Monday and runs through noon on Friday. Mr. Blackwell said he realizes he faces an enormous challenge given his inexperience and the soon-to-be-renumbered 10th Congressional District’s overwhelmingly Republican tendencies.
The district, after 2005 redistricting by the Georgia Legislature, has been renumbered the 9th Congressional District and stretches from Dade to Union counties along the northern state line and dips south into Forsyth County.
U.S. Rep. Deal, who had more than $350,000 in campaign cash as of April 1, last saw opposition in 2000, when he won with more than 75 percent of the vote.
“We take every campaign seriously,” he said. “My constituents will find that I have one of the most conservative voting records in the Congress.”
The 63-year-old congressman said while it’s not “impossible” for someone with Mr. Blackwell’s background to jump into Congress, “it would be a serious disadvantage” for the district.
Among other things, he said Democrats have fought making President Bush’s tax cuts permanent and have immigration policies at odds with North Georgians.
“It’ll be my pleasure to debate those,” he said.
Mr. Blackwell said for all Rep. Deal’s experience in Congress and as a state senator he’s lost sight of the needs of regular people like himself.
“He’s lost touch with the real people,” he said. “He’s forgotten what it’s like to struggle to pay your bills.”
The potential candidate said since recently deciding to run he’s been working hard to raise the approximately $4,900 he needs for qualifying fees, and he said some local Democratic Party chairmen have taken an interest in his congressional bid.
A spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee couldn’t be reached for comment Friday, but Mr. Blackwell conceded he hasn’t been in touch with the group yet, though it’s charged with fostering Democratic opposition to GOP representatives.
But Mr. Blackwell said that shouldn’t automatically preclude him from being a viable candidate because of how a representative democracy is supposed to function: “We’re supposed to be represented by the people, and I’m obviously a person.”
“I’ve tried to be realistic about it,” he said. “It kind of seems unbelievable right now that I’m even doing this.”
E-mail Matthew S.L. Cate at mcate@timesfreepress.com
Staff Writer
A 26-year-old Walker County Democrat said he hopes to earn his party’s nomination and oppose seven-term U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga., in the November general election.
Paul Blackwell, an auto mechanic for Wal-Mart, said the Republican incumbent has gone too long without serious opposition.
“I’m not happy with our representation right now, and I know a lot of people who aren’t happy either,” said Mr. Blackwell, a Ridgeland High School graduate making his first run for public office.
Qualifying for elected office begins Monday and runs through noon on Friday. Mr. Blackwell said he realizes he faces an enormous challenge given his inexperience and the soon-to-be-renumbered 10th Congressional District’s overwhelmingly Republican tendencies.
The district, after 2005 redistricting by the Georgia Legislature, has been renumbered the 9th Congressional District and stretches from Dade to Union counties along the northern state line and dips south into Forsyth County.
U.S. Rep. Deal, who had more than $350,000 in campaign cash as of April 1, last saw opposition in 2000, when he won with more than 75 percent of the vote.
“We take every campaign seriously,” he said. “My constituents will find that I have one of the most conservative voting records in the Congress.”
The 63-year-old congressman said while it’s not “impossible” for someone with Mr. Blackwell’s background to jump into Congress, “it would be a serious disadvantage” for the district.
Among other things, he said Democrats have fought making President Bush’s tax cuts permanent and have immigration policies at odds with North Georgians.
“It’ll be my pleasure to debate those,” he said.
Mr. Blackwell said for all Rep. Deal’s experience in Congress and as a state senator he’s lost sight of the needs of regular people like himself.
“He’s lost touch with the real people,” he said. “He’s forgotten what it’s like to struggle to pay your bills.”
The potential candidate said since recently deciding to run he’s been working hard to raise the approximately $4,900 he needs for qualifying fees, and he said some local Democratic Party chairmen have taken an interest in his congressional bid.
A spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee couldn’t be reached for comment Friday, but Mr. Blackwell conceded he hasn’t been in touch with the group yet, though it’s charged with fostering Democratic opposition to GOP representatives.
But Mr. Blackwell said that shouldn’t automatically preclude him from being a viable candidate because of how a representative democracy is supposed to function: “We’re supposed to be represented by the people, and I’m obviously a person.”
“I’ve tried to be realistic about it,” he said. “It kind of seems unbelievable right now that I’m even doing this.”
E-mail Matthew S.L. Cate at mcate@timesfreepress.com
