None of their websites say they like baseball, hot dogs or apple pie, but the nine candidates for the Republican nomination for the United States House seat in Georgia’s 14th congressional district claim to have nearly every other all-American attribute.
Several who want to represent the 12 Northwest Georgia counties (Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Floyd, Gordon, Haralson, Murray, Paulding, Polk, Walker, Whitfield, and a portion of Pickens counties) say they’re small business owners, at least three are military veterans, two have North Georgia roots back to the 18th century and two say they’ve been Boy Scout leaders. Nearly all claim to be gun rights supporters and Christians, with one saying he’s a Sunday school teachers and another a former gospel singer.
One grew up with a widowed mom who was a lunch lady, another was raised on a farm and a third met former President Ronald Reagan, patron saint to today’s conservatives, while in high school.
Trumpeting the emblems of their conservative bona fides is not without reason. The district, created by redistricting following the 2010 census, was judged by the 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index to be the 10th most Republican seat in the country. Indeed, the Cook Political Report, Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales and Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball, who all track national political races, rate it as a “solid Republican” or “safe Republican” district for November.
It also has no incumbent, which is why nine GOP candidates are in the June 9 primary (with a likely runoff Aug. 11). The winner will face Democratic Kevin Van Ausdal, an Indiana native who has lived in the district for eight years and says he works in the financial technology industry. The district’s incumbent, Tom Graves, surprised his colleagues in December by saying he would not run for a sixth term.