A Primary Interlude

I'm putting on my politics hat, briefly, to give you my picks for the May Democratic primary.

The Atlanta Objective is a political project. I’m a political journalist. I have for many years provided my friends an analysis of elections before primaries here — a voter guide for Democrats. (I could do the same for Republicans, but they wouldn’t trust me enough to use it.)

I have two main biases. First, I prefer female candidates because abortion rights will be a massive influence on the November election. Second, folks from DeKalb County get extra points because I want to be able to irritate elected officials at the grocery store.

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STATEWIDE RACES

Some of these are slam dunks. Raphael Warnock for Senate and Stacey Abrams for Governor. A note about Tamara Johnson-Shealey: the “African Descendants of Slaves” or ADOS movement is a Russian field operation designed to divide the Black community. No one pressing it should be given political air to breathe.

The Lieutenant Governor’s race gets the home field advantage for me: Renitta Shannon is from DeKalb County and has ably represented it, and is probably the best foil against a Republican competitor if abortion rights takes center stage in November. Honorable mention to Charlie Bailey and Erick Allen, who both deserve a place in public policy in this state.

Jen Jordan is clearly the best choice for Attorney General. I want her "enforcing" whatever stupidity emerges on abortion law in Georgia next year.

Bee Nguyen is a warrior for democracy, and has my vote for Secretary of State. Yes, she’s part of the party insider mafia. Eff it: I want her to win.

Fred Swann is my guy for Commissioner of Agriculture, because I firmly believe he wants to GROW PURP in Georgia. Swann has the added benefit of living in Gainesville, providing some geographic balance to the ticket.

Matthew Wilson for Commissioner of Insurance also gets the home field advantage. There are serious issues at play over the next few years around insurance in Georgia, like Medicare expansion under Abrams, business insurance problems associated with crime and consumer protection. Some quiet competence – not a party hack – will move the needle.

I didn't at first make the connection between Currey Hitchens the candidate for State School Superintendent and Currey Hitchens the mother of a beautiful adopted boy who bounced on my knee at a friends house some summers ago. I know Currey. Her endeavors have long been discussed in my circle of friends as a legal advocate for children. She has very specific experience around child development and trauma that absolutely must propagate through school systems across Georgia, given the amount of violence and social disorder children faced in the pandemic. Jaha Howard has been a friend, but may have disqualified himself with some homophobic comments that are beneath the dignity of public office, which is a terrible shame.

Nicole Horn won my vote for Commissioner of Labor almost a year ago with relentless campaigning and outreach. That is exactly what it will take to win a down ballot race in November.

Patty Durand has been equally relentless, and will be equally brutal to Echols, who has earned a real fight on the Public Service Commission.

And give me Chandra Farley for the District 3 seat on the commission as well. She’s better qualified than her competitors and leads with solar in a way that will be easy to communicate to the November audience.

CONGRESS

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Nikema Williams and Hank Johnson are both brilliant and we’re lucky as hell to have them. The day will come when that’s not true and we’ll look back on 2022 wistfully remembering the comparative absence of drama. They’re also both going to win in a walk and it doesn’t matter what I think about it.

There are only three Democratic congressional primaries that move me to advocate today. The first is going to be controversial: I think

David Scott should have retired this year. After talking with people who have been observing him closely for the last year, it’s clear that he is not capable of doing the job any more. His health condition has deteriorated. It’s telling that he has been either unwilling or unable to actually campaign in the district over the last month: he doesn’t want people to see him like this.

Vincent Fort, former state senator from south Atlanta, should succeed him. Fort is a stalwart progressive with a long unassailable record of advocacy for the poor and working class. There is no one better suited to the job.

The second – also controversial – race for me is the GA-7 seat in Gwinnett, because there I’m picking a white person over a person of color. Lucy McBath was districted out of GA-6 and decided to challenge Carolyn Bourdeaux for her seat instead of taking the L in Cobb. I like McBath. I like Bourdeaux more. McBath is carpetbagging in Gwinnett. That reflects a Beltway infection – a sense that her position in Washington is just that important. McBath doesn’t have the deep local ties to that community that Bordeaux has built over the last few years.

Bourdeaux has been smack in the middle of major policy debates about health care and affordable housing in ways McBath, frankly, hasn’t. McBath has a fundraising edge. She may have a polling edge. Bourdeaux is the better choice for Gwinnett.

The third is in GA-14, which is Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district. I like Wendy Davis in the primary, because no one says f**k MTG louder than her. That said, some Democrats may have the impulse in that district to cross party lines in the primary just to take a dump on Greene’s lawn. If you do, either Lutin or Strayhan have a shot at taking her to a runoff. Either is good: Jennifer Lutin is better.

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STATE SENATE

The state senate picture for Democrats is pretty sad, frankly. After redistricting, there are essentially no chances for a Democratic pickup this year. There is exactly ONE competitive seat in the whole state where the partisan outcome is in question: SD-48 in the area between Cumming and Johns Creek east of Alpharetta and west of Suwanee. 33 Republicans. 22 Democrats. One seat in question, in a state that’s nearly a 50-50 partisan split. Nonetheless, a few primary races deserve a word. (I’m ignoring races where the incumbent both should win and is probably going to win, or where there’s no contest, or where I don’t know jack about the district – looking at you, Lagrange and SD-29.)

Jason Esteves might be governor someday. He absolutely should be leading things right now. He’s running for SD-6 in Atlanta and as the APS board chairman pulling the system out of the cheating scandal and through the pandemic, he’s more than earned it. There are few people in Georgia with his competence and character in office.

The choice in SD-7 is harder, because both Beth Moore and Nabilah Islam are excellent choices. After hearing about a fairly significant controversy about Billie's communications in this race, I'm going to withhold my judgment.

Titus Nichols is the better choice for SD-37, which is northwest Cobb County. Nichols is a law professor and former soldier. His primary opponent Vanessa Parker took a shot two years ago in a game effort, but I dislike it when two people from the same household are running for office at the same time, and her husband is a candidate for a state house seat.

Lastly, and most importantly, MIKE GLANTON, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SATAN AND CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, WIN AND GET DONZELLA JAMES THE F**K OUT OF OFFICE. South Atlanta deserves better.

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STATE HOUSE

There are 180 seats in the Georgia General Assembly. Republicans hold 102 of them. Only 128 seats are being contested by Democrats. Only 36 of those contests have Democratic primaries with more than one candidate. And about half of those races are probably uncompetitive challenges to incumbents. Behold, democracy.

I will do my best to keep from talking out of my ass here about candidates or districts I know nothing about. Your mileage may vary. A few places where a well-placed word might matter.

Park Cannon has a primary challenger, for no good reason. Cannon is perhaps the most prominent LGBTQ+ house member, who was arrested unjustly for <checks notes> knocking on the governors office door in the capitol during the signing of a law that curtailed fair elections in Georgia last year. She is being opposed by Brandon Tonge, a Morehouse graduate with a comparably thin political resume. Tonge’s relatively conservative religious sensibilities are a fundamental mismatch to the 58th district, which has one of the highest concentrations of LGBTQ voters in the state. Park Cannon is the only state house candidate I’ve given money to and I don’t even live in her district. ‘Nuff said.

William Boddie gave up HD-62, his house seat southwest of Atlanta to run for labor commissioner. There’s a three-way race to replace him. Two of those candidates present an extremely difficult choice for voters. Tanya Miller is an attorney who was at the front of the effort to change Atlanta’s body camera policies, which effectively forced the feds to start wearing cameras around here. Josh Noblitt is a long-time activist and community leader who was integral to the launch and oversight of Atlanta’s pre-arrest diversion initiative. As a crime policy writer, both of these people are attractive choices. I would go with Noblitt, because he’s been in the trenches locally in ways few people can match, with a deep set of relationships that will bring street level information to the legislature about how their policies actually work.

HD-35 is Ed Setzler’s former district in North Cobb. Setzler was redistricted and is running for a state senate seat. I don’t agree with his politics … but I like him personally. He was always honest and open with me, and I remain impressed with how he discussed the 2020 election with constituents ready to hang legislators who wouldn’t overturn it. His former district is purplish with a demographic profile almost exactly parallel to Georgia as a state. A Democrat has to be suitably mauve to win it. Kyle Rinaudo beat Lisa Campbell in the 2020 primary by about 200 votes and then lost to Setzler by about 300. Close, close, painfully close. Redistricting hurts, though. They’re both running in a rematch, along with Nick Miller. I am pointedly NOT making an endorsement here because I think both are absurdly over-qualified and this is going to come down to local nuances that aren’t visible to me from 30,000 feet up. I’m writing this to signal the rest of Georgia’s Democratic infrastructure to back whoever wins the primary with everything you’ve got because this is a potential pick-up.

Losing Erica Thomas in HD-39 is painful at a moment when abortion rights and foster care are about to explode as an issue. The Mableton district will vote 5-to-1 Democrat in November; the five-way primary is the general election. Thomas is backing Tamarre Pierre, an activist with the National Action Network and her office manager. With respect to Thomas, I think this race comes down to Terry Cummings and Monica Delancy, both of whom have a relevant compelling story to tell for their candidacies.

Delancy is a housing rights activist who has been at war with corporate rental firms for years. Cummings is an attorney who has represented corrections departments but appears to be sharply opposed to prison policies, and has also worked on tenants rights issues. It’s housing problems vs. prison problems, both of which are crises in Georgia. We would be ably served by either. If I were in Cobb, I would probably be voting for Delancy, simply because I think she’s more likely to light a private equity landlord on fire.

Democrat Eric Allen fought like hell to win his seat in Cobb County. Now HD-40 is up for grabs again. Two people are contesting the Democratic primary there and neither is named Sandra Bullock. Thomas Casez is an able, intelligent, fairly-young activist candidate who I would be happy to see elected. But he’s running against Doug Stoner, a former state senator of excellent mettle and deep experience who would win my vote and should win this race.

Sharon Cooper, a Republican in Cobb County, has been a very strong advocate for mental health causes in Georgia for years and should be recognized for that work. She has been redistricted out, leaving open HD-43, a swing district. Solomon Adesanya is a second-generation Nigerian-American, like me, and a small business owner in Smryna. The local business experience, I think, provides the kind of crossover appeal to counter Anna Tillman, a geologist for Shell. (If you are familiar with Nigerian history, you will understand how a fight by a Nigerian-American against a Shell executive might resonate.) A lot of people I respect prefer Ben Stahl, a former Marine and attorney. But I want to see Adesanya fight Tillman. It feels personal.

I count Rep. Josh McLaurin as a friend, and I hope he wins election as a state senator. That leaves his substantially redistricted seat, HD-51, wide open. Of the two candidates contesting the Democratic primary, Esther Panitch is the better qualified, though Erendira Brumley would serve well. Panitch is an attorney with a background in advocating for the interests of the victims of child abuse and domestic violence. As a crime writer, this resonates. The legislature has no Jewish voice in it with the exit of Mike Wilensky; I contemplate the state response to something like a Tree of Life shooting with dread without some authoritative voice guiding things from within. Panitch would add to the diversity of voices in the House.

Merie Metze didn’t qualify to run for reelection to her Atlanta house seat, and I was taken aback. In her place Nate Green and Inga Willis are competing in HD-55 to take on a Buckhead douchebag: Samuel Lenaeus, the president of the Buckhood cityhood movement. I can smell his father’s money through the screen. The Democrat will win this race; I’m interested in which one will pop Lenaeus like a colostomy bag in a Jackass movie reel. Willis is the better choice here, though I sense she would worry about getting s**t on her Louboutins while stomping Lenaeus flat. She’s a business executive with political experience that serves the needs of the district well.

Mesha Mainor drew two primary challengers this year in her eclectic Atlanta district, and I am unsurprised because of the politics of the day. Mainor was a lone Democratic voice pushing back against “defund” rhetoric in the house and supported legislation blocking Atlanta from reducing its police budget, in return for an economic authority that would bring jobs to poor people in Fulton County. We can argue about how Republicans mischaracterized calls to shift funding from cops to social workers. But Mainor also appears to have been ahead of the curve here in terms of public sentiment. Given what’s happened in her district and across the city, I sense she’s going to win another term. And she should. The Democratic Party needs some friendly but heterogeneous voices willing to challenge orthodoxy from within, or it is going to get caught out by something hidden by groupthink. Vote for Mainor as your insurance policy.

House District 59 was massively redistricted, losing East Point and south Atlanta and gaining territory west through Capitol View all the way to Greenbriar Mall. David Dryer – with whom I also need to have a hard talk – is retiring. In his stead, former State Rep. Toney Collins and Phil Olaleye seek to succeed him. Collins served in the legislature ... in Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale ... for one term. He was, as nearly as we can tell, fairly useless in office, and his election was an embarrassment. He’s been shopping for a new office to ghost ever since. Olaleye comparatively makes me want to go to the gym and find a tailor. Both his politics and his energy are what I would be if I were taller, thinner and better looking. Peace Corps. Director of Performance Management at WorkSource Atlanta. And also ran the Summerhill neighborhood organization, which has been entirely capable of kicking my ass. He has the good taste to be a second-generation Nigerian-American like me, and the better taste to be the hands-down favorite in the race by policy makers watching for a new star. Vote for Olaleye.

The legislature completely trashed HD-64, moving it entirely from Union City and Fayetteville all the way west of Douglasville. It’s a brand-new district, which is why it has drawn competitive primaries in both the Republican and Democratic parties. Two of the Republicans are predictably bug-f**king loopy. Turning Point USA has a candidate of choice there. Oy. For Democrats it’s a race between Montenia Edwards and Mignon Willis. (Christopher Thornton needs to do some more work to legitimize his campaign.) Edwards has more political experience, winning a contested primary two years ago – and, gloriously, beating the ridiculous Triana Arnold-James. Willis is qualified and would be an able advocate for elder issues ... but the legislature is well-staffed in this regard. Edwards appears to be the better choice, again.

The legislature tightened up HD-84 substantially, which was a long noodle from North Decatur to the southern DeKalb County border. It’s now mostly a strip south of Decatur through Flat Shoals. Renitta Shannon is running for Lt. Gov., so the open seat is a contest between Omari Crawford and Maurice Raeford. Both are highly educated, impeccably qualified policy nerds, and I begrudge no one their vote here. Congratulations, HD-84: you’re going to be alright. I sincerely regret not seeing them debate. I recognized Crawford’s name from some case filings in his work for the county and dug into some of his arguments: he has the capacity for nuance that makes better policy, and I’m not crazy about Raeford’s take on incorporation in south DeKalb.

House District 86 is closest to my heart here, aside from my own next door. I loved Michele Henson in that seat and wish she were still serving. The district starts near Clarkston and Tucker and lances south to the edge of Stonecrest. Zulma Lopez took one term in office and noped out. Whoever wins the primary will win the general. They will also be the one person who gets to hold Lisa Kinnemore, the Republican candidate, to account. Kinnemore is a Black member of the state Board of Education who still manages to spout frankly racist stupidity about how slavery should be taught in school. To hell with her.

There is only one reasonable candidate in this race: Imani Barnes, an Emory University researcher and PhD candidate who ran unsuccessfully for the Tucker City Council last year. Barnes is witty, rigorous, energetic and reflects the best of this district. Jaqueline Adams is also running for this seat – again – at the same time her husband Greg Adams is running for a county commission seat – again. No couples in office, people. Just no. Also, frankly, I find her willingness to mix her religion with her politics deeply distasteful. She is, however, less nuts than Marvis McDaniel Ivey, who is filing lawsuits against DeKalb officials and the state of Georgia that are, frankly, completely unhinged. There’s one every cycle. Ivey is utterly unqualified to hold public office and really needs help. Vote for Barnes. It’s important.

Bee Nguyen’s run for SoS leaves her East Atlanta seat open. I like many of the people who are running. But only one intrigues me: Bentley Hudgins. They’ve been an important background operator in LGBTQ political activism at the state level for years, even though they’re only 29. (Bentley uses they/them pronouns.) I’m pretty sure I met them before they could drink legally. They’re a writer and activist, currently with the New Georgia Project, and possessed of a fiendishly astute political sense of the possible for progressive causes. I’ve long admired their perspicacity. As the step-parent of a nonbinary child, I also recognize the value of representation here. I want to make the Speaker address someone with their pronouns. Gimme some Hudgins, please.

GREG SHEALEY, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SATAN AND CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, WIN AND GET ANGELA MOORE THE F**K OUT OF OFFICE. South DeKalb deserves better ... and I don’t want to have to yell at her in the hallways of the capitol again because she wants to have it out there. She is dishonest, unproductive and not terribly bright. She should not hold public office, period.

House District 97 also got creamed by redistricting, and now covers south Johns Creek through Peachtree Corners. It’s immigrant-heavy, tech heavy and kind of fun politically. Ruwa Romman faces JT Wu for the Democratic primary. Romman is a Palestinian-American immigrant, CAIR Georgia’s communications director and a Georgetown poli-sci grad. JT Wu is a second-generation Chinese American who grew up in Gwinnett County. A Princeton poli-sci grad, he interned at the State Department then went on to do the Princeton thing in finance. I had to chew on this one a bit ... but I prefer Romman, who has a longer record of service to the local community.

And finally, House District 106. The ax murder.

The legislature, in its infinite malice, reapportioned two Democratic lawmakers into the same Gwinnett County district. Shelley Hutchinson faces Rebecca Mitchell. I have had more personal interaction with Mitchell, who is an epidemiologist with degrees from Harvard and Cornell. Hutchinson is a LCSW – vital experience at the capitol given the state’s mental health delivery crisis. Mitchell was one of a handful of Democratic legislators who have been paying close attention to the problems in Georgia’s prisons, meeting with family members and advocating for their concerns. That matters to me. But this is a street fight, and I cannot begrudge anyone their choices here.

Shout out to my friend Olusegun “Segun” Adeyina in Gwinnett, running for the state house in an unopposed primary. Get some.

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COUNTY COMMISSION AND SOLICITOR RACES

Unless something is visibly broken, you don’t give a shit. You know you should. You don’t. Let’s not pretend today. A quarter of voters don’t bother with anything past the congressional races.

Of course, a whole lot of stuff is in fact broken. We’re all in deep, deep denial. The housing crisis lay squarely on the shoulders of county commissioners and city councilmembers who appoint zoning board members and set policies around development density and construction permits. We elect people who listen to NIMBY assholes instead of making good long-term decisions. Alas.

DeKalb has three contested county commission races. One is an open seat, because Jeff Rader – a consummate professional whom I would hold up as a model for governance – is retiring. I have tremendous respect for Lauren Alexander and Michelle Long Spears, but this is Marshall Orson’s race to lose. His many years on the school board, and his fight against the board’s shenanigans of late, are a sign that commitment to governance will not diminish if he succeeds Rader.

Larry Johnson is also a professional administrator of the first water, with 20 years of experience leading the district and a national profile as the president of the National Association of Counties. I would argue that it might be time for him to rotate out of the role, but the argument for succeeding Johnson has to be rock solid and Marine veteran Andrew Bell hasn’t made it with his candidacy. Johnson provides continuity. Give Johnson another term.

Lorraine Cochran-Johnson answers my emails, often at midnight. I often wish she wouldn’t. I hate the idea of making demands on that much of any persons’ time. She’s one of the most competent, capable public servants in metro Atlanta and governs much as I would. I expect her to reach for higher office soon. She faces Greg Adams, a pastor and police officer who served an abbreviated term punctuated by scandal – he sexually harassed a county employee. His wife is running for a state house seat. Cochran-Johnson beat him once and ought to do so again on general principles.

The Fulton County commission is comparably problematic. Its board appointees are getting into trouble. It can’t seem to find a coherent answer to skyrocketing housing costs or mental health service delivery. Chairman Robb Pitts demonstrates neither vision nor administrative competence. And one of its members, Khadijah Abdur-Rahman, is proving to be unfit to serve. She is, alas, not up for election, but she is ridiculously running her own slate of crony candidates against other commissioners who are.

A good friend – Maggie Goldman – is running for the District 1 commission seat in North Fulton. She is a long-time party activist, deeply committed to anticorruption and transparency policies, and exquisitely knowledgeable about school and real estate issues in the county. She is my go-to person when I need to learn. I contributed to her campaign. You should vote for Goldman.

I have reasons to be irritated with Marvin Arrington Jr. I have a natural disinclination to support family legacies in government – Arrington’s father was a longtime commissioner and one of the most important political figures in Atlanta history. He’s an entertainment lawyer and I am edging closer every day to a full-on polemic against the music industry’s connection to violent organized crime in Atlanta. I found the way he put up roadblocks on the diversion center irritating. But ... he’s right about enough things, like criminal justice reform, voting rights and more to let it slide. People don’t always have to agree with me. He’s a vigorous public servant. And he is facing one of Abdur-Rahman’s stooges, who may or may not actually live in the district. (A judge dismissed a residency challenge. I remain skeptical.) Give Arrington another term.

Robb Pitts earns less sympathy. I could not tell you today why he is serving in office except for political inertia ... which he then imposes on everything around him like a great celestial body dragging asteroids in its wake. There are politicians who view their elected position as a sinecure and status symbol instead of the sacred obligation of humble service that it should be. The problem here is that neither of his two challengers – Sonya Russell and Jewel Johnson – appear to be better choices. Russell is a former cop who is telegraphing “tough on crime” noises and appears to be in Abdur-Rahman’s camp. Johnson is a lovely, well-meaning person whose life experiences do not add up to leadership for the county. We needed a former state senator or retired judge or the equivalent to run here and we didn’t get it. I offer no suggestion or guidance to you, friends. Sorry. No one gets any points.

Gwinnett generally has its act together. It is politically anti-drama. Pave roads, keep the water running, do whatever is necessary to maintain competitive schools. Gwinnett is the Yankees of government. It’s Microsoft Windown. And it doesn’t actually matter what party you belong to there: there is the Gwinnett Party and everyone else is an anarchist. There’s one contested commission race: Ben Ku faces challenger Jahangir Hossain, a leader in the Bangladeshi-American community. The district is multiracial and multicultural, and both Ku and Hossain reflect that. I expect Ku to walk away with it; if there’s some specific gripe driving a primary challenge, I can’t see it.

Brian Whiteside, the county’s solicitor general, is violating the no drama rule, though. He’s been feuding with the court system for a couple of years now over how to manage COVID-19 protocols. He stopped prosecuting misdemeanor marijuana cases and moved DUIs into State Court. Frankly, I like it. A little strawberry with the vanilla ice cream. He faces an able challenger, Lisamarie Bristol. But Whiteside looks like an interesting player and I’d like to see more of what he can do.

Cobb County wishes it was Gwinnett County, but can’t quite figure out how to keep from tripping over its pigtails. The tax deal that brought the Braves to Cobb is draining money out of the county budget. It is actively hostile to homelessness intervention: what it put Must Ministries through is criminal. While it now has a majority-Democrat commission and sheriff, it is still wrestling with good-old-boy regressive policies baked into its local politics, some of which are driving the cityhood movement in east Cobb. None of the commission seats have a primary contest, but there’s a fight for the solicitor’s office: Chris Lanning vs. Makia Metzger. Lanning is the chief assistant solicitor. Metzger is a prosecutor in another office. Lanning has superior experience for the role and Metzger isn’t making big progressive promises that might transform the office. I would choose Lanning ... but I confess ignorance of the local nuances here.

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SCHOOL BOARDS

Generally, I have but one concern with local school boards right now: let no CRT-bashing rightwing racist asshole into office. The rest is manageable. This generally isn’t going to be a problem in metro Atlanta, but the threat merits a little vetting, nonetheless. (While my wife writes about schools for Decaturish, neither Decaturish nor she has one thing to do with this screed.)

The DeKalb school board, however, is another animal. I became engaged in county-level politics as a city councilman 10 years ago because the school system looked like it would lose accreditation. I called for the board’s removal – one of the few Democrats to do so – because the threat to children who did not have a vote on what that board did outweighed the risk to democracy by letting Nathan Deal thump local elected leaders.

We aren’t quite there yet. And reason save us, we’re not going to get there.

The nonpartisan school board election is decided on May 24. Two board members face challenges; Allison Gevertz vs. Bonnie Chappell and Diijon Dacosta vs. Janet Hughes and Venola Mason.

Both Bonnie Chappell and Janet Hughes are Republicans. Neither tells you that on their campaign sites, for good reason: these seats vote Democrat three to one or more. Chappell makes noises about “protecting women’s sports” which is a dog-whistle for anti-LGBTQ sentiment. Hughes carefully says less than that – as little as possible, hoping to skate through. Vote for NEITHER of them.

Gevertz has been consistently trying to steer the board in the right direction and should win another term.

Dacosta has not. He may be a nice, well-meaning person, but he failed to file campaign disclosures for years, has been a vote for dysfunction and bears responsibility for the state of affairs as they are right now. The buck stops with him. Venola Mason is an education industry executive and teacher who understands the problems we’re having. I say we pull Dacosta and replace him with Mason.

My wife covers the DeKalb County school board for Decaturish. In the interest of not immiserating her further, I am going to refrain from an opinion on the contested seat to succeed Marshall Orson.

Three Fulton County school board members bailed out this year. Four seats are open and all are contested. I can make some of these easy for you.

In Fulton’s northernmost District 2, Brittany Griffin faces Lillie Pozatek. Griffin is a Democrat. Pozatek is a Trumpist Republican running a stealth anti-CRT campaign. Vote for Griffin.

In the Johns Creek District 5, Kristin McCabe faces Kimberly Ware. McCabe is a Republican, the wife of one of Johns Creek’s founding council. She’s also carefully using language that signals opposition to “CRT” ideas in her campaign. Vote for Ware.

In the Alpharetta District 7, Phil Chen faces Michelle Morencie. Chen is a Republican. Vote for Morencie.

I am mercifully passing on comment about the Gwinnett County school board. Steve Knudsen is the only incumbent running. The race to succeed Everton Blair has five candidates. I leave this last one as an exercise in civic duty for its constituents.

Go vote.