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GA-Gov, GA-09: Deal Set to Run for Governor

by: James L.

Tue Apr 28, 2009 at 6:41 PM EDT


Yet another Republican is bailing from the House for a sunnier career in state politics. This time, it's southern-fried wingnut Nathan Deal:

Sources close to Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) say that the nine-term Congressman will run for governor in 2010 and that an official announcement is expected to come at a Friday press conference in Georgia.

Members of the Georgia's Republican House delegation have been in talks about which of the "G-7" would jump into the race to replace Gov. Sonny Perdue (R), who is term-limited next year. Deal informed his fellow Republican Members that he was running on Monday night and during the day on Tuesday.

Deal will join an already crowded GOP primary field, but he must be hoping that his entry will dissuade any of his fellow Republican House colleagues from taking the plunge, as well.

Open seat fans shouldn't get too excited about this one -- Deal (who began his career a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away as a Democrat) occupies a ridiculously red (R+28) district that gave McCain 75% of the vote last November. Roll Call takes a look at the potential GOP field to replace him in the House:

Among the Republicans who are being mentioned as possible replacements for Deal in the 9th district are talk radio host Martha Zoller, state Reps. Tom Graves and James Mills, state Sens. Chip Pearson and Lee Hawkins, former state Sen. Bill Stevens and former Rep. Max Burns, who recently moved to the 9th district and teaches at North Georgia College.
James L. :: GA-Gov, GA-09: Deal Set to Run for Governor
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GA-Gov, GA-09: Deal Set to Run for Governor | 35 comments
Meh
This one helps us very little.  We have no shot at picking up this seat.  Not only is it ridiculously Republican, but we have NO bench at the same legislative level.  We also have no shot at picking up any of the State Senate seats that may come open.  

Our best hope is that the state house districts based around Dalton (the 4th) and around Gainesville (26th) come open.  We may have a shot at these two increasingly Hispanic districts.

Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.

What about Wyc Orr?
He's about the only Democrat I could see getting into this race with any type of elected experience (served until the early 90s in the state senate). He's still politically active and not really that old. I couldn't see a better time for him to run in the near future than now.
[ Parent ]
I really don't see the point
GA-09 is insanely Republican.  If Orr does make the plunge, maybe a state senate or state house race instead.

Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.
[ Parent ]
Deal is the last
House member remaining who switched from D to R in the wake of the 1994 election. With him gone, we can close the book on that nasty chapter. (Shelby's still in the Senate of course, and we still have Ralph Hall and Rodney Alexander in the House who switched in the 2000s.)
Appropriate, somehow
That this should be happening on the same day we get a switcher of our own in the Senate.
[ Parent ]
"Open seat fans shouldn't get too excited about this one."
It's very telling that this is the refrain we keep hearing with posts of this kind.

Why on earth is the GOP so intent on puting forth all these congressmen from hard-right PVI districts as their standard bearers for statewide office?

Foolish question, I'm sure.

Male, 23, DC-At Large

It is likely that these Repubs
want to bail from a House where they'll be in the minority for many years.  It is the same reason why 5 Repubs retired in the Senate.
[ Parent ]
Because there aren't that many Republicans left from blue or purple districts
All seven Georgia Republicans represent districts that are very Republican.

Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.
[ Parent ]
True
Which makes people who live in the Democratic bastions of their districts like Athens in GA-10 miserable. However, demographic changes and increased suburbanization may make the 7th into a somewhat competitive district.  
[ Parent ]
Yeah, Linder's days are numbered
The Democratic performance in that district jumped by a huge margin.

Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.
[ Parent ]
yup, it moved like
ten points in one cycle.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus
[ Parent ]
Just caught this
Members of the Georgia's Republican House delegation have been in talks about which of the "G-7" would jump into the race to replace Gov. Sonny Perdue (R), who is term-limited next year. Deal informed his fellow Republican Members that he was running on Monday night and during the day on Tuesday
.

Does anyone know where this "G-7" meeting is held? A secret lair? An undisclosed location? The Count Chocula Castle?

PS: Anyone able to pull up that clip of that Simpson's episode where all the Springfield Republicans are meeting together at that castle to decide who was going to run against Mayor Quimby? It's hilarious but I can't find the link.

The walls have got to be covered with batshit.


Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.
[ Parent ]
No, it's the Count Chocola Castle.
Speaking of which...is there a Republican with the last name Count?

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01
[ Parent ]
Eventually
there will come a time where the Representatives from Georgia's most GOP districts will not be viable statewide.  Remember, McCain only took 52% last year.
Still
I like Gerogia's delegation today versus the pre-1994 version.  We may have fewer Dems, but we have better Dems.  Our black congressmen from Georgia are better than pretty much any of the nearly all-white conservative dem delegation we had in the 70's through the early 90's which was typically useless and unreliable.
[ Parent ]
Most of those Boll Weevils
made Jim Marshall look like an ultraliberal.
[ Parent ]
Yep
Which is why I'd rather have about 3 solid black liberals and 2-3 more moderate dems in the Georgia delegation than all white DINOS like we used to have.  That's all we really need from a state like Georgia since we now have the "solid northeast" bloc of votes to offset the deep south.
[ Parent ]
David Scott
has stabbed the party in the back more than once, for example, during the all-night roll call on the Medicare drug benefit.
[ Parent ]
but the party craters in midterms
cause of lower black turnout.

Call no man happy until he is dead-Aeschylus
[ Parent ]
This Deal sucks.
I want a better deal.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01
If Stevens or Burns gets in...
...I think the race is probably theirs to lose.

If Stevens and Burns get in, I think the race is going to be very entertaining.

wait, you're saying they could actually lose an R+28 district in the general?
That'll beat Sali.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01
[ Parent ]
R+28
Forget Sali, an R+28 district is closer to a Brooklyn or Chicago innrer-city district in partisanship than an Idaho or Utah district.
[ Parent ]
Thin bench but
A Democratic countywide commissioner exists in Union County and then there is former state senator Wyc Orr
[ Parent ]
Just out of curiosity...
Why is he a FORMER state senator?  Did he lose re-election?

Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.
[ Parent ]
Nathan Deal beat him in a Democratic Primary!
IIRC, Deal beat him in like 1988 for the State Senate as a Democrat and then served there until 1992 when he ran for Congrees.
[ Parent ]
Seriously?
We really have to go back 20 years just to find a former state senator in the district?
[ Parent ]
It's sad
We had a few state representatives there up until 2002 or 2004ish.  As I said before, I think the best we can do is hope the state house districts centered on Dalton (4th) and Gaineseville (20-something, 26th, I think) come open.

Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.
[ Parent ]
Dalton
Isn't that city like half Hispanic now?  I think they flooded the city to take the carpet industry jobs noone else wanted.  Saw something on TV about it awhile back.  Though I'm sure many are people who can't vote.
[ Parent ]
Yep
40.2% in 2000.  No numbers are available for the 2005-2007 estimates, at least not for Hispanics.  However, the city is rapidly approaching majority-minority status.  Plus, it's a city with some blue collar leanings AND a smallish state university.

Gainesville is the same way.  Heavily Hispanic and a small state university.  That's why I think both should receive higher focus.

Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.

[ Parent ]
How the hell do you get an R+28 district?
And shockingly, R+28 isn't even the worst (R+29 is the worst, for TX-13 and AL-06).

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01
[ Parent ]
McCain took like 75% of the vote there
Makes sense it would be R+28.
[ Parent ]
No, like, what sorts of demographics do you have to have
to get such an insanely Republican district.

party: Democratic, ideology: moderate, district: CT-01
[ Parent ]
Wealthy suburbs plus ancestary Republican North Central GA
The whitest district in GA as well.  
[ Parent ]
GA-Gov, GA-09: Deal Set to Run for Governor | 35 comments

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