That's the question that needs to be asked after the defeat of Melvin Everson for Labor Commissioner, Corey Ruth for 4th Congressional District, Deborah Honeycutt for the 13th District.
All have different cases, Everson was running his first ever statewide race, Ruth his first congressional race & Honeycutt, a perennial candidate for the 13th district.
But the big one here is Melvin Everson who was seen by many as a rising star in Georgia GOP circles. Only the second Black Republican elected to the General Assembly since Reconstruction. But in the General Election he lost to a weak candidate in Mark Butler in a route despite having the majority of the GOP house caucus behind his candidacy. Everson traveled to every corner of the state getting his message out only to be turned away in favor of a candidate who raised eyebrows when he was involved in a relationship with a lobbyist, who was also his girlfriend & made threats to a University of West Georgia Official.
Honeycutt was running her third race for the 13th district, but in this case, republican voters probably grew tired of nominating someone who despite the ability to raise huge sums of cash could not get over 30% of the General Election Vote.
And last Corey Ruth was a impressive young Black Republican running in the 4th District, but he lost to favorite Liz Carter, who is a nice lady with a good looking background, but in my opinion, the hype surrounding her candidacy is way overblown. Se may surprise us all by winning in the democratic stronghold of the 4th District, but if she does, that'll be the day Eugene Talmadge rises from the dead & run for governor in 2014.
So the question needs to be asked: What should Black Republicans do? Should they remain in a party that only have at the moment one Black Republican (Willie Talton of Warner Robins), who may well lose his seat in November? Should they remain in a party where it maybe difficult for a African-American Republican to appeal to hardcore conservatives, some who may not be so open in electing a African-American Republican to a statewide office? Or should they switch parties & become conservative democrats & improve their prospects of winning down the line?
These are just some questions that need to be answered. Good men like Melvin Everson need to be in office, not on the sidelines playing the role of a cheerleader. Herman Cain, who conservative republicans are very high on could mount a run for president in 2012 is a prime example. He ran for the open senate seat in 2004. To me he was by far the better candidate than Mac Collins & Johnny Isakson (who is now the senator) in that race. But because he wasn't apart of the establishment, he was unsuccessful in winning that race. Black Republicans here need to take a long look at their standing in the Georgia GOP & ask themselves is it worth it? What is our role in the Party? Can we get elected Statewide as a Black Republican? Only time will tell.
3 comments:
Your points were really well put and I can say that after meeting Everson and you at the same political forum in Albany that the Albany State family around the state would have supported him in Nov---he is a ASU grad.
Another point would be that White candidates who you and I like personally are require to run from Black support since and Blacks are commie liberals or something. Best wishes to decent GOP candidates but you can really think of having a party run the best Black state in America with little input from Black people. Honeycutt should be pissed because she is a quality person who might be politically homeless.
And what about the GOP voters who have benefitted from Bishop's work over the years but who have seem to have forgotten that.
I better chill but this isn't what Michael Steele promised.
I agree Slyram.
Everson had he been the nominee at Labor Commish would have gotten a huge chuck of the Black Vote.
He traveled every corner of this statedespite what inside republicans were saying that he spent too much time in Metro Atlanta, which is a lie!
GOP voters have benefitted from Bishop representation over the years. But with the nastiness toward the president which I have never seen aimed at any previous president in my lifetime, anyone seemed as supporting him on anything is being raked over the coals.
Plus you cannot ignore the racial aspect of this as well. I for one didn't expect race relations to get better in this country after Obama's election like every high-minded person thought would happen.
To be it may have gone backwards somewhat, with labels such as Muslim, Socialist, Communist, etc being hurled at him. I don't know these are crazy times right now
Lincoln,Kemp and Douglass must be saying to each other, "what the h..
happened to our.?"
Why does the party roll out a carpet full of lies and want you to believe that it does not portry its true message of the illusion of inclusion.
I thought Steele was truly "steel" but based on his performance, I'll take paper mache.
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