Qualifying for Georgia elections continues

Charles Edwards | WABE

May 24th, 2012

On July 31st, Georgia voters will cast ballots in primary elections for offices on the local, state and federal level. Qualifying for those races continues today. You can follow all of the qualifying here.

There’s a newly drawn Congressional seat in Northeast Georgia. That race includes first time candidate and longtime Gainesville political radio host Republican Martha Zoller.

“I may not have run for public office,” said Zoller. “I may not have passed legislation. But, this idea of only people who have been in the system before can move on is how we got in this mess.”

Michael Opitz is also a first time candidate. He qualified to run in the Republican primary for Northwest Georgia’s 11th Congressional district against incumbent Phil Gingrey.

He’s got a couple of million dollars. Mine’s a grassroots organization,” said Opitz. “But, that’s the strength that we have. It’s the people speaking out and we have built a tremendously strong grassroots organization.”

Paul Broun, a Republican incumbent in the 10th Congressional District, continued a bus tour after qualifying for re-election. Parts of Gwinnett County have been added to his Northeast Georgia district.

“What I keep hearing over and over again is that people are concerned about jobs and the economy,” said Broun. “They want to see us stop this outrageous spending that’s going on in Washington and there’s concerned about health care.”

Broun will face at least one political newcomer in July’s primary. Right now, Republican incumbent Lynn Westmoreland has no primary opposition in the 3rd Congressional district. The toughest decision his Coweta County constituents could face is whether to vote for the proposed penny sales tax for transportation projects.

“The T-SPLOST is something that everybody is going to have to make their mind up on,” said Westmoreland. “I think we need to make sure everybody understands the full picture of it and what it will mean to Georgia or what it will do to Georgia if we don’t pass it. But, I’m going to vote for it.”

The proposed tax is not a federal issue. However, it could factor into Georgia’s Congressional elections. Qualifying ends Friday.

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