Political newcomer Terence Fowler to take on Freddie Powell Sims in Senate District 12

ALBANY – Terence Fowler’s not like most politicians. As he kicks off his campaign to oust long-time District 12 State Sen. Freddie Powell Sims from the seat she’s held for the past 16 years, Fowler said he is not asking anyone for their vote.

At least not yet.

“I couldn’t put ‘vote for me’ on my campaign literature right now, because I feel I would be disrespecting the voters,” Fowler said after announcing plans to run as a Republican for the District 12 seat. “What I will ask them to do, though, is to listen to what I have to say. Ask me about why I’m running; ask me about any issue that’s important to you.

“Then, after our ‘courtship’ period, I’ll ask them to vote for me.”

Fowler is a first-time candidate, but he knows his way around politics. He’s worked on the campaigns of local candidates Tracey Taylor, Brenda Battle and Jalen Johnson, and he’s worked on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign as the vice chair of the Fulton County Republican Party.

“That was one of those things that just happened,” Fowler said of his role with the north Georgia GOP. “I was at the meeting where they were electing officers, and I kind of said out loud, ‘I should have run’ after the nominations were announced. This older gentleman sitting next to me said, ‘I’d nominate you.’

“I said, ‘Why not?’ even though I knew only about 20 people in a room of 400. I had to give a one-minute, off-the-cuff speech, and when I finished I got a standing ovation. I got the position.”

Fowler grew up in Albany but finished school in Cobb County. It was there that tragedy struck, and Fowler lost his right eye.

“I had just signed a full scholarship to play football at Tennessee, and a bunch of us were in the gym for a weight-training class,” he said. “Someone threw a ball, and when I bent down to pick it up, one of my teammates hit me in the right eye. I didn’t know what happened or why – I still don’t know; he said it was an accident – but I was taken into the nurse’s office.

“My retina was completely detached, and they couldn’t repair it.”

With his potential sports career now a distant dream, Fowler worked independently in the entertainment industry, worked with professional sports teams in his hometown and started his own travel management company. As he prepares for what he says will be a “high-visibility” campaign, his wife will continue her work as a dental assistant while he takes care of their six children, ages 2 to 21.

“We’ve thought this through,” Fowler said. “I plan to run a high-visibility campaign, so our family has worked it out where I’ll have the time to run things the way I think they should be run, with lots of energy.

“Look, I’m not going to try and be something I’m not. I’m going to run an ‘everyday-man’ campaign because that’s who I am. I’m not polished, but I will give the people of District 12 something they haven’t had in a long time: high visibility. I am going to visit all 13 counties in the district; if I can, I’ll speak wherever people ask me to speak.”

Fowler said there are a number of key issues that are part of his platform, among them:

– Bringing expanded broadband access into the district that he says was “promised during COVID but never fully delivered.

– Pushing for equal rights for fathers in parental cases. “I’ve had friends who had to go through a legitimacy process that just isn’t fair,” he said. “I want to push for legislation that, when parental legitimacy is established, the father has equal rights. It’s part of my pro-family plan.”

– Working to help struggling farmers by pushing for more food-to-school programs. “Food is a key issue to kids in our district; for a lot of them, the food they get at school is the only real meals they get,” Fowler said. “I believe we can work so that kids get more healthy foods in school  – salt kills more people than guns in our area – and farmers get a boost by selling to the schools.” 

Fowler, 42, said he has no animosity toward Sims, who he said, was “a principal of mine at one time.” But he said the time for a fresh approach to leadership is needed in one of the poorest districts in the country.

“The people in District 12 have been getting the same kind of representation in the Senate for the past 23 years,” he said. “And in that time, there simply has been nothing innovative brought to our region. It’s time for younger, more energetic leadership.

“I have nothing but respect for Ms. Sims, Sanford Bishop, David Sampson and others, but as Democrats, they have failed to move the needle when it comes to getting things done for our region. We need a new energy in our state government.”

Fowler said he and his team are planning a 10-day, 13-county tour throughout Senate District 12.

“I’m willing to talk to any group – all they have to do is reach out – and it doesn’t matter to me if they’re Republicans, Democrats, Independents or Libertarians,” the candidate said. “I just want to talk to people about the things that matter to them.

“I know there are a lot of national issues now that have people’s attention, but I’m not going to have my campaign hijacked by federal circumstances. We have enough issues of our own to focus on. And another thing I’m not going to do, unlike most politicians, is tell people that I’m going to do things that I know I can’t do. People are tired of that kind of politics.”

As he takes his first steps down the political path that has chewed up and spit out many before him, Terence Fowler knows he’ll go into the Nov. 3 general election against Sims as an underdog. But he says the challenge doesn’t frighten him.

“I’ve got the energy that’s been missing in our district for a long time,” he said. “People have gotten the same-old, same-old for the past 23 years. I’m going to give them something new because I’m simply going to be me.

“Some people in the black community have said they’re concerned about me running as a Republican, but I assure them that my concern is for them as individuals. I am a black man, so I certainly care about the black community. But I’m not running to be a ‘black’ representative. I’m running to represent all of the people of District 12.”

To get in touch with Fowler’s campaign, interested persons can reach out via fowler4state.com or on Facebook at Fowler for Georgia State Senate District 12.

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