Just when you think things can’t get oilier when it comes to DeKalb County politics, enter the campaign of Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton, who faces a runoff in July against opponent Steve Bradshaw.

The commissioner has defended herself in the past from ethics charges and constant bombardment on a host of issues. Now Sutton has chosen to paint her opponent, who is African-American, as is she, as a pawn of the northside Republicans. You know, white folks.

But Sutton is moving the meter to a new low in a passive-aggressive racial dig at her opponent, who has a white wife.

Sutton didn’t come out and say it. Instead, her campaign put a photo of Bradshaw and his longtime spouse on a flier that tears into him. The strategy of the now-desperate Sutton (Bradshaw outpolled her last week) is to hope enough of the mostly black district doesn’t go for interracial marriages.

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State Rep. Kimberly New, R-Villa Rica, stands in the House of Representatives during Crossover Day at the Capitol in Atlanta on Thursday, March 6, 2025. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC