Wednesday, August 24,2022
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3A
FROM 1A
McCormick
McCormick said after a
tough primary season, the next
step is to get Republicans on
the same page heading into
November.
“I think the main thing for
us is just getting the party
united again. I think the
Republican Party needs to
come to grips with the diversi
ty of thought in our own party.
I, for one, am a very conserva
tive guy, but I believe that if I
alienate people that would nat
urally gravitate toward the
Republican Party, that
wouldn’t be good for the
growth of our party, and I
think we have to be careful, as
a party, to have the right rheto
ric, that when I’m having an
argument with someone, we
don’t just do the Facebook
thing and vilify people instant
ly because they disagree with
us on something.”
This is McCormick’s second
time running for Congress.
In 2020, McCormick faced
Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux
in the race for Georgia’s 7th
Congressional District, con
taining the majority of Forsyth
and Gwinnett counties.
Bourdeaux won that race with
190,900 votes (about 51.4% of
the total) to McCormick’s
180,564 votes, about 48.6% of
the total.
McCormick said, campaign-
wise, that a lot has changed
since he first announced he
would run in 2019.
“I didn’t know one politi
cian when I started three years
ago, not one politician,”
McCormick said. “So, to come
from that to a person who kind
of knew almost everybody, I
met the president by the time
we started this election cycle.”
After new Congressional
maps were approved by the
Georgia General Assembly,
Georgia’s 6th Congressional
District now contains all of
Forsyth and Dawson counties
and portions of Cherokee,
Cobb, Fulton and Gwinnett
counties.
In June, McCormick defeat
ed fellow Republican Jake
Evans in the seat’s Republican
runoff by 27,455 votes (about
66.5% of the total) to 13,808,
after the two were the top
vote-getters in an eight-candi
date primary in May.
He will face Democrat Bob
Christian, who defeated fellow
Democrat Wayne White in the
party’s primary in May, earn
ing 18,776 votes, about 55.6%
of the total, to White’s 15,025.
After facing and bolstering
support among fellow
Republicans, McCormick said
“Now, it’s time to reach out to
the general public,” including
those who might not tradition
ally vote for Republicans,
such as newcomers to the area,
minorities and legal immi
grants.
“The people that will decide
the statewide races are these
independents, these people
who either don’t like some
thing about the Republican
Party or don’t like something
about the Democrat Party, but
they’ve been sandwiched in
the middle,” he said.
If elected, McCormick said
one of his main objectives is
to be a voice for residents in
the district by having one of
the strongest constituent ser
vices in the nation.
“I’m one of 435 votes in
Congress, but I am your repre
sentative. I am the guy, when
you have a problem, whether
it be from the federal govern
ment or being overseas and
trying to get back in the coun
try after you’ve lost your pass
port, you’re being treated
unfairly,” he said.
“If there is a problem that
you cannot deal with that you
need our assistance, I do not
want to give you a form letter,
I want to answer the mail, to
tell you when we are going to
get back to you, to tell you
what we are doing, to keep
you involved, to let you know
that we care and that we’re
here to help you.”
McCormick has also cam
paigned on continuing the
area’s success in schools, low
crime rate and quality of life
and has said he wants to tackle
inflation, help spur economic
growth, secure the Southern
border and make sure elec
tions are fair.
He said he believes people
will usually do what’s right if
the government stays out of
the way.
“People know what to do.
God has given us a natural
inclination to do the right
thing, and as long as you stay
out of the way, it happens,” he
said. “That’s when churches
and communities and families
succeed, when the government
is not getting in the way of
that by trying to do it for
them.
“It’s never worked out when
the government forces us to do
the right thing. God doesn’t
force us to do the right thing,
why do we think the govern
ment has more of a right than
God?”
Georgia has been in the
national spotlight due to the
high-profile races for governor
- between Republican incum
bent Brian Kemp and
Democratic challenger Stacey
Abrams — and Senate —
between incumbent Sen.
Raphael Warnock and
Republican challenger
Herschel Walker.
When asked what impact he
saw those races having on his,
McCormick said he believes
he controls his own destiny
and he is looking at ways to
help Republican candidates in
other races.
“We, first of all, want to
take care of business in our
district,” McCormick said.
“Then, we look statewide to
see how we can help people
without getting in their way.”
McCormick said he is “bull
ish” on this year’s Republican
candidates and believes the
party can take back the White
House in the 2024 election.
Despite current political ten
sions, McCormick said the
country has been divided
before and pointed to the strife
of the 1970s before the elec
tion of President Ronald
Reagan, which he described as
“one of the greatest eras of
prosperity that lasted almost
two decades.
“If we take 17 seats, we’ll
have a bigger majority than
we had in [1994.] If we take
29 seats, we’ll have a bigger
majority than we had in 2010,
and if we take 34 seats, we’ll
have the biggest majority
since the Great Depression.
This could literally be a his
toric class and already is a his
torical class because you have
more women, more minorities
and more veterans running for
Congress than you ever had in
the history of the Republican
Party.”
McCormick served for more
than 20 years in the U.S. Navy
and Marine Corps and is a for
mer Marine pilot who has
served in Africa, the Persian
Gulf and Afghanistan.
He is a graduate of
Morehouse School of
Medicine. He and his wife,
Debra, have seven children.
For more information on his
campaign, go to www.
RichMcCormick.us.
FROM 1A
Christian
Dawson counties and
parts of Cherokee, Cobb,
Fulton and Gwinnett
counties.
“The big difference
that we’re facing right
now is that a lot of peo
ple have talked us off as
not being able to win the
general [election],
because of gerrymander
ing and redistricting,
and we’re out to prove
them wrong on that,”
Christian said.
Georgia’s General
Assembly approved
redrawn congressional
maps earlier this year.
With the redistricting,
District 6 includes a
more conservative-lean
ing constituency in the
region northeast of
Atlanta.
Currently, Democrat
Lucy McBath is repre
senting District 6.
However, because of the
redistricting plans,
McBath announced a bid
last fall to run instead
for a seat in the politi-
cally safer 7th
Congressional District
and subsequently won
against incumbent
Carolyn Bourdeaux in
the primary election.
In June, Christian
defeated fellow
Democrat Wayne White
in the District 6 seat’s
Democratic primary,
with 18,776 votes
(slightly over 55 per
cent) to White’s 15,025.
He will face
Republic an Rich
McCormick, who
defeated fellow
Republican Jake Evans
in the party’s primary
runoff in June, with
27,455 votes (about
66.5% of the total) to
13,808, after the two
were the top vote-getters
in the May primary.
Christian explained
that while the primary
entailed convincing “just
people on our
[Democratic] side,” now
his audience has sudden
ly expanded to about
767,000 people, with
slightly over 400,000 of
them currently regis
tered to vote.
“So it’s just a much
bigger audience,” he
said.
Christian said he sees
his path to viability in
talking to people of dif
ferent backgrounds and
“by not sticking to only
traditional Democratic
communities.”
He is also looking to
capitalize on the youth
vote, which he called
critical in the 2020 and
2021 elections. To that
end, Christian has made
a TikTok account, @
christianforga6, which
has started to garner
more attention. “I’m cre
ating that stir because I
have a message that res
onates,” Christian said.
Christian has spent
part of his campaign
time talking to groups
such as the Hindus of
Georgia PAC, Sheriffs
Jeff Johnson and Ron
Freeman, the Islamic
Council of Georgia as
well as Democratic and
veterans groups across
District 6.
“If it’s in the district,
I’m talking to them,”
said Christian, “because
at the end of the day, if -
or I should say when -
I’m elected and sent to
Washington D.C., my
job is to represent all
767,000 people in the
district, not just those
that agree with me.”
As his campaign
works to close the gap
between him and
McCormick, Christian
said he sees his path to
victory “in uniting peo
ple.”
“We can’t always
agree on everything [in
politics], but we can
agree on what we want,”
Christian said.
Christian’s campaign
policies include a keen
focus on economic
revival through boosts to
the infrastructure people
in District 6 use daily,
from roads and bridges
to rural broadband and
more.
He said it’ll be key to
invest in the rural farm
ing part of the district to
help combat rising infla
tion, particularly with
food prices. “Let’s bring
that supply chain as
close to home as possi
ble, so we can [then]
almost immediately
begin reducing prices at
the grocery store,”
Christian said.
“As I’ve told other
people, living here in
Dawson County gives
me the opportunity to
give Dawson County a
voice in Congress at the
highest level,” Christian
said. “The growth that’s
coming is coming, and
Important Water Meter
Replacement Project Notice
To: All City of Dawsonville
Water Customers
The City of Dawsonville will begin replacement of
all City water meters on Monday, August 15th. New,
more efficient electronic meters will be installed.
Each replacement takes approximately 15 minutes
and the entire project should take approximately 3-6
months. The contractor is M & E Construction and
most of their service vehicles should be labeled as
such. For questions or concerns, please contact
City Hall at 706-265-3256.
The City of Dawsonville
we are not going to be
able to stop it, so we
must prepare for it.”
In the long term,
Christian said that it’ll
also be necessary to start
putting in steps to transi
tion and grow into a
more green-based econ
omy.
His health care plat
form includes plans to
reduce prescription drug
prices, expand Medicaid
to reimburse mental
health treatment costs
and a push to bring more
doctors to rural areas.
Likewise, Christian
said he wants to see
what can be done about
bringing something like
a VA care clinic into the
northern part of the dis
trict to help veterans
better access health ser
vices.
“Our veterans have to
travel much farther...all
the way down into
Atlanta and sometimes
as far down as Canton
[or] to the Southern end
of the state to get access
to the VA system.
Some of Christian’s
other policies include
focuses on bipartisan
gun safety steps and
proposals to help restore
trust in law enforcement.
“I’m not afraid to have
conversations. I’m not
afraid of any question or
to talk to people that
disagree with me,”
Christian added. “At the
end of the day, the art of
government is the art of
compromise, and you
can’t compromise unless
you’re willing to listen
to the other side.”
Christian served for 10
years in the U.S. Army,
serving in a combat role
in Iraq his last year in
the military. He is a
small business owner.
He and his wife,
Frances, have two
daughters. For more
information on his cam
paign, go to https://
christianforga6.com.
Note: Bob Christian
wrote sports content for
DCNfrom 2018 to 2020.
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