The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
10th District’s GOP primary roiled by Trump’s blessing
Endorsement of ex-democrat Jones stirs crowded field.
U.S. Rep. Jody Hice’s decision to run for Georgia secretary of state set off a freefor-all for his seat in a solidly conservative and rural congressional district.
There are nearly a dozen Republican candidates with healthy campaign accounts who have been running for months in the 10th District. However, a recent endorsement by former President Donald Trump has threatened to upend the race.
Trump’s support for former state Rep. Vernon Jones has already led one candidate, Matt Richards, to drop out of the race and back the apparent front-runner, trucking company owner Mike Collins.
“Mike is a proven, Protrump conservative warrior who we can trust to champion our America First values in Congress,” Richards said in a statement announcing the end of his campaign. “We need a fighter who has lived, worked, raised a family and started a business in this district representing us in Washington, and I’m confident that Mike Collins will deliver real results for families in Georgia’s 10th Congressional District.”
That is a dig at Jones, a former Democrat who voted to uphold abortion rights and lives outside the district in Dekalb County. Members of Congress are not required to live in the districts they represent.
Regardless of his lack of ties to the region and his liberal track record, Jones has scheduled meet-and-greets across the district starting next week. His campaign has focused largely on his close connection to the former president cultivated during his support of Trump’s 2020 campaign. Jones attended recent events at Trump’s Mar-a-lago estate in Florida and will return next month for a fundraiser there.
Jones declined an AJC interview request.
A January poll conducted on behalf of The Atlanta Journal-constitution found that 43% of Republican voters said they would be more likely to support a candidate endorsed by Trump, but an equal number said they weren’t sure or indicated it wouldn’t matter.
Trump backed Jones’ congressional bid as part of an agreement that ended the Atlantan’s campaign for governor, making the path smoother for the ex-president’s preferred candidate in that race: former U.S. Sen. David Perdue.
Even before Jones entered the race this month, there was a crowded field. Nearly a dozen candidates have submitted paperwork that allows them to raise money ahead of the May 24 primary. And half of them have raised about $200,000 each from individual donors, a sum that would mark them a front-runner in many scenarios.
The sheer number of leading candidates means the primary is all but certain to lead to a runoff in June. The Republican nominee will be heavily favored to win the seat in November.
University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock said the likelihood of a runoff in the 10th District may have made the seat more attractive to Jones as he was deciding what office to pursue as part of his negotiations with Trump.
“With this large field, potentially it would take a smaller share of the vote in order to finish second and therefore make it into the runoff,” Bullock said. “So maybe part of his calculation is there’s a better chance I can clear the first hurdle and then go head to head against somebody for the nomination.”
Trump is still a powerful force among conservative voters, and nearly every GOP candidate has played up support for him and his agenda even without his endorsement.
Collins describes himself as an “America First, pro Trump” candidate. He said the Trump years ushered in a period of economic growth and prosperity that provides a blueprint for the type of congressman he would be.
“My parents were in the trucking business, and then my wife and I started our own trucking company and built it up to over 100 trucks and actually bought my parents out,” he said. “And being involved in that industry alone, which is the most regulated and taxed industry there is in this country, gives me just a different perspective from anybody else in this whole race of what we need in Washington.”
Other candidates are touting their own experience as the reason they would be the best person to represent the 10th District.
Marc Mcmain is a publisher who recently began running his first campaign ad on Fox News, a spot criticizing President Joe Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci on mask mandates.
Based on internal polling he has reviewed, Mcmain said Collins appears to be in the lead, and he and other candidates are competing for a second-place finish that could land them in a runoff if no one receives a majority of voters’ support.
“You look at the several small businesses that I’ve started that have been successful, that really sets me apart from the crowd,” Mcmain said. “And I’m an outsider. I’ve never ran for political office, whether it be federal, state or local. In this political climate, people want an outsider.”
That is a contrast with several other candidates in the race who arrive with political experience, including Collins, the son of former U.S. Rep. Mac Collins. Collins narrowly lost to Hice in a 2014 runoff for the Republican nomination, which is the last time the seat was open.
Other leading candidates, including Jones, also have political experience. Former U.S. Rep. Paul Broun is in the race, as is state Rep. Timothy Barr, who represents a seat in Gwinnett County outside the 10th District. Candidate David Curry is the former elected tax commissioner in Henry County and served as the state’s revenue commissioner under Gov. Brian Kemp.
James Cooper, the Republican Party of Georgia’s regional chairman in the 10th District, is staying neutral during the primary campaign. He believes the field remains wide open and hard to handicap ahead of the primary.
Voters in the district are worried about the economy and inflation, Cooper said, but they are also looking to support a candidate they can trust.
“Someone they trust to uphold the Constitution, stand up for our conservative values, provide good constituent services and to be accessible for them,” he said.