Georgia Chamber Endorses Kirkpatrick in SD 32 Runoff
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce is endorsing Kay Kirkpatrick in the May 16 runoff for State Senate District 32. Senior Vice President David Raynor gave Kirkpatrick his full support, saying, “With big challenges facing our state, it is vital we have members in the Georgia General Assembly who understand the need for state policies that promote economic development and job growth. We believe Dr. Kirkpatrick will be a friend and ally to Georgia families and their businesses in the state senate, and we look forward to working with her if elected.”
In the runoff, Kirkpatrick will face Democrat Christine Triebsch, who won the plurality of the vote in the April 18 general special election. Even though Triebsch won the plurality, the vote was spread pretty evenly among the eight candidates who ran. The 5 Republicans took about 60 percent of the total vote, so expect SD 32 to stay red on May 16. Judson Hill (R), who vacated the seat to run in the Congressional District 6 special election, had held the seat since 2005, and he rarely faced serious challengers.
Although Democrats certainly saw a boost during the 2016 general election and in the first round of the CD 6 special election, I don’t think the climate is right for East Cobb to send a Democrat to the General Assembly. The CD 6 runoff between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel will not happen until June 20. That race is likely to generate much more enthusiasm and turnout than this one. So, yes, the Georgia Chamber can rest easy knowing that it most likely endorsed a winning candidate.
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Rob
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Rob makes some good points here about the odds favoring the Republicans. In 2014, both Senator Perdue and Governor Deal got close to two-thirds of the vote in this district. Trump did poorly here by traditional GOP standards but still beat Clinton by nearly 15 points. Senate 32, however, is not a “Bible-thumper” district—lots of the district’s residents are not native to Georgia, and many of them are Catholic or Jewish—so a Democrat’s best hope here is if the Republican nominee sounds more like Rick Santorum or Ted Cruz and less, say, like Marco Rubio or John Kasich.
As the runoff for SD 32 precedes the June 20 6th CD runoff between Ossoff and Handel, Ossoff may get something of a boost by these two contests not being on the same day, a little less incentive for East Cobb Republicans to come to the polls. On the other hand, Senate 32 had a strong turnout in the contest for this seat and often ranks at the top of Georgia’s 56 Senate districts in total turnout.