Candidates focus on key regional issues for District 13 Senate runoff

LEESBURG – The polls in the Georgia Senate District 13 runoff race opened for early voting in the showdown between Carden Summers of Crisp County and Jim Quinn of Lee County for the seat that became vacant when Greg Kirk passed away on Dec. 22 last year. The polls will remain open for early voting through Friday, with the election scheduled for March 3.

This runoff became necessary when none of the three candidates in the special election held on Feb. 4 received a 50% plus one vote majority of ballots cast. During that election, Summers received 5,154 votes (43.10%), Quinn received 5,044 votes (42.18%) and Mary Egler received the remaining 1,759 votes for (14.71%). The winner of the runoff will serve out the remainder of Kirk’s term, which ends Jan. 10, 2021. Members of the Georgia state Senate serve two-year terms and are not subject to term limits.

Both Summers and Quinn are Republicans. Egler is a Democrat.

District 13 includes nine counties, including Crisp, Dodge, Dooly, Lee, Tift, Turner, Worth and portions of Sumter and Wilcox.

The size of the district itself is a concern for both candidates, who say they see it as a reflection of the problems in the district that are leading to a decline in its overall population.

“With the death of Sen. Kirk, there is going to be a loss of good leadership in southwest Georgia,” Quinn said. “I thought I could step up and try to represent the region the best way possible.”

Quinn said he sees health care and technology as the two greatest challenges facing the region.

“There are places in Leesburg that don’t have high-speed internet,” he said. “There are places all over the district that don’t have high-speed internet. You have to have that for employment and education. Expanding broadband will create better jobs and make it so people, when they graduate from school in south Georgia, they don’t leave and not come back.”

Quinn has served as mayor of Leesburg, is the former chairman of the Lee County Republican Party, and serves on the Albany Area Primary Healthcare board, which he has chaired in the past.

Quinn said he believes that AAPH is a model that can be replicated in other areas of the region.

“Quality health care for all is the motto,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you are insured, underinsured or self-pay, we give you quality health care. We need quality primary health care in south Georgia. It is lacking in some areas and is necessary to lead to better jobs.”

Summers also said he sees the district’s declining population as a concern.

“The problem is we are losing so many young people,” he said. “There is so much need in south Georgia. They used to say there were ‘two Georgias.’ Now there are three Georgias. There’s greater Atlanta, and now there’s north Georgia that’s growing at an unprecedented rate. Then there’s south Georgia down here, and we’re struggling all the time. We never seem to get our fair share.

“I see a need for economic development; I see a need for rural health care to be expanded. We need somebody to champion keeping our young people in south Georgia instead of all having to go to Atlanta for a job. Those are the reasons I’m running, to make south Georgia a better place to work, live and play. I will work to protect always the Second Amendment and your Second Amendment rights. I will also work to protect our right to worship in our faith that we all have.”

Summers said there must be unity in the region.

“Let’s build a coalition in south Georgia where we are not just one voice, but we are many voices,” he said. “We can pull together and make things happen. There are a lot of new people who’ve been elected. There’s Bill Yearta, Jimmy Pruett, Joe Campbell … these are good people who are willing to sit down and help south Georgia.”

Quinn and Summers both say they are concerned about low voter turnout for the special election and potentially for the runoff election.

“Voter turnout has been slow lately; it’s imperative that people get out and vote,” Quinn said.

Summers agrees.

“There are more than 80,000 voters in the 13th District, and less than 12,000 people voted in the special election,” he said. “We need to take our voting rights seriously and exercise our right to vote.”

Any voter registered in the district can vote in the runoff election, even if they did not vote in the special election.

Staff Photo: Tom SeegmuellerSpecial Photo