Republicans grappling with an insurgent tea party wing and growing ranks of ambitious office-seekers are locked in internal battles across the state ahead of next year’s vote. But now the Democrats have their first high-profile intraparty fight of the election season.
DeKalb Sheriff Tom Brown launched his campaign Wednesday to unseat U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson with a four-stop kickoff across the district, which stretches across metro Atlanta’s eastern flank. He said restless voters are in need of a more dynamic leader who “won’t be stagnant.”
“I want to be a part of shaping the agenda and moving things forward,” Brown said during a campaign stop Wednesday in Conyers. “I want my name at the top of the legislation, because I want to be the one crafting it. And I don’t see a strong voice in the present representative.”
He left it unsaid, but Brown also hopes to present a contrast to Johnson, whose odd sense of humor and verbal miscues have made him the butt of late-night talk shows. He's become a YouTube sensation several times, including his sarcastic praise to his House colleagues this spring for approving a bill to save the nation's helium reserve.
Johnson said in an interview in Washington that the argument that he’s not articulate enough to serve in Congress is off the mark.
“That is not a winning argument, if that’s all that he can use to cause the citizens of the 4th District to want to change representatives,” Johnson said. “I think I have been pretty effective at getting my message across, both to the people who vote for me and the people who I work with.”
The two will battle to represent the competitive 4th Congressional District, which stretches from DeKalb to Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale counties. Johnson’s closest campaign since wresting the seat from Cynthia McKinney in 2006 was a three-way primary in 2010 where he prevailed over two fellow Democrats from vote-rich DeKalb.
“Getting there won’t be easy,” Brown said. “I’m going to be outspent, but I’m up to that challenge.”
However, Johnson’s war chest so far isn’t all that impressive for an incumbent. He reported about $54,000 cash on hand at the end of September.
An open question is whether President Barack Obama will intervene in the contest. Tharon Johnson, an Atlanta-based Democratic political consultant who ran Obama’s campaign in the South, said Brown’s entry makes the 4th District one of the most competitive primaries in the state.
He also said a competitive May 20 primary in DeKalb, which boasts the most Democrats of any county in the state, could pay dividends in the crowded U.S. Senate race for the open seat. Nonprofit executive Michelle Nunn, the Democratic front-runner, faces several other Democrats in May, and a good turnout in DeKalb could build momentum for the general election. If Nunn is the candidate, she’ll be facing the winner of a hard-fought Republican primary.
“It helps Michelle Nunn because if she is going to be victorious, DeKalb County is going to play an essential role in her success,” said Johnson, a managing director at McKenna Long & Aldridge.
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