By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
APRIL 24, 2018 | Come next Tuesday, May 1, GwinnettForum will focus the entire issue on the 2018 primary election.
There will be two parts to that issue. First, will be GwinnettForum’s endorsements of candidates for state and local candidates in the primary. We will endorse in all races that are contested if we have talked to at least one of the candidates. So far we have talked this season to 66 candidates in this primary season.
Perhaps most valuable to GwinnettForum readers will be direct presentation of the candidates’ views to six questions we put to them. We asked the candidates to answer those questions in 100 words or less so that the readers can quickly understand the position of each of the candidates on those questions. With lots of candidates this year, it will be quite a chore just to read through the comparative questions. However, readers might determine the candidate they will vote for by seeing the candidate’s views in their own unedited words.
Then come the November general election, GwinnettForum will endorse the candidates we think best to hold the various offices for this political season. And again, you may read the views of the candidates to questions we put to them.
This is part of our service to our readers. While enjoyed talking and learning about the many candidates. Particularly this year, more than a few candidates have declined to visit with us for 30 minutes. For candidates who decline to visit with us, we won’t offer these candidates a chance to answer our questions. Candidates cannot pay us to get their views heard; the only way they can be posted on the GwinnettForum’s site is to sit down face-to-face with us. We thank those candidates who have come to visit with us, and wish them well in the election.
SOME OF YOU may recognize how diverse Gwinnett is these days. Well, if you thought it was diverse before, consider where the candidates on the Gwinnett primary ballot were born. You may understand more about Gwinnett and the state of Georgia and how our area has grown as you read the birth sites of people running for office this year.
Eighteen (27 percent) are native Georgians. Only one candidate (Tracey Mason, a candidate for Superior Court judge) was born in Gwinnett County. Other Georgian candidates come from the following cities: Albany, Americus, Atlanta (6) Athens, Cumming, Douglasville, Elberton (2), Marietta (2), Murrayville, Snellville and Summerville.
Now let’s look where the 24 candidates (25 percent) were born in the South: Baltimore, Md., Bethesda, Md., Columbia, S.C., Dillon, S.C., Fort Deposit, Ala., Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (2), Franklin, Tenn., Harlingen, Tex., Hickory, N.C., Merritt Island, Fla., Miami, Fla. (2), Nashville, Tenn., New Orleans, La., Norfolk, Va., Owensboro, Ky., Pensacola, Fla., Roanoke, Va. and Tarboro, N.C.
If you think that is widespread, note we have 17 nationwide candidates born in: Hamilton, Ohio, Boston, Mass., Germantown, Pa., Alma, Mich., Concord, N.H., Milton, Mass, New York City, Suffix, N.Y., New Haven, Conn. (2), Lewisburg, Pa., Glen Cove, N.Y. Dayton, Ohio, Grand Rapids, Mich., Brooklyn, N.Y., Chanute AFB, Ill., Stratford, N.J. and Pittsburgh, Pa.
And there are seven (11 percent) candidates born in other countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Jamaica (2), Korea, South Vietnam and Sri Lanka! Amazing!
We’ve long known Gwinnett as diverse. While we are proud to see people from all areas run for office, we particularly welcome foreign born persons as candidates for election this year.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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