Roswell voters will have one less option this November when they decide who will be the city’s next mayor.
In a Facebook video message Tuesday night, Kurt Wilson announced that he is dropping out of the Roswell mayoral race. Wilson, 55, is a Republican, an Alabama native and an entrepreneur.
“Having been a candidate for the last couple of months, I’ve come to the conclusion — a very simple conclusion — that I’m not going to be a candidate for mayor for the city of Roswell any longer,” Wilson said in the video, which had more than 4,800 views as of Thursday morning. “… It is with a burdensome heart, that I withdrawal my candidacy.”
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Wilson, who is the president of a Zaxby's restaurant group, also twice ran for Georgia's 6th District Congressional seat.
His latest attempt was in the April special election, where he garnered just a hair under one percent of the vote, with a total of 1,812 ballots cast in his name. Wilson finished sixth on the crowded Republican ballot.
In the video, Wilson said his head was in the Roswell mayor race, but his heart wasn’t. He added that he “probably” wasn’t the “right guy” for the job.
“If your heart isn’t passionate about what you’re pursuing, don’t do it,” he said.
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Wilson said he will continue to post videos to Facebook about issues he thinks are important, such as public safety, zoning and development and healing.
“There is a political divide in our city, and that’s got to be addressed,” Wilson said. “It’s time for political healing, it’s time for consensus building.”
Sandra Sidhom and Michael Litten are the only other people to announce a campaign for mayor of Roswell. Jere Wood, who has been Roswell's mayor since 1997, has said he will not run for re-election.
Litten sued Wood in 2016, saying that the mayor violated the city's charter when he ran for a fifth term in 2013. In 2010, the Roswell City Council passed an ordinance saying that the city's mayor would be limited to three consecutive terms. Wood argued that doesn't apply to him and that the term limits weren't supposed to be retroactive.
On Thursday, a Fulton County Superior Court judge ruled that Wood be removed from office immediately, following Litten's lawsuit.
Qualifying for Roswell’s municipal election will be held from Aug. 21 to Aug. 25. The election is Nov. 7.
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