Former state Rep. Rusty Kidd, the last politically independent member of the Georgia General Assembly, died Tuesday at age 74.
Kidd represented the Milledgeville area for eight years until deciding not to seek re-election in 2016 for health reasons.
"There's certainly a lot of broken hearts," said state Rep. Rick Williams, a Republican from Milledgeville who succeeded Kidd. "He was the most genuine person you'd ever meet. He was a peacemaker. He did a lot for our community that people never knew."
Kidd was a Democrat for 40 years before becoming an independent. He supported Republican Donald Trump’s election as president in 2016.
Before his election to the state House, Kidd worked as a lobbyist, representing organizations and businesses including the Medical Association of Georgia and tobacco company R.J. Reynolds. He was the son of a state senator, Culver Kidd, who served 40 years in the General Assembly.
A motorcycle accident in 1999 left Kidd paralyzed below the chest.
Kidd in 2004 became the chairman of the Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund Commission, which provides grants to Georgians for their post-acute care and rehabilitation for traumatic brain and spinal cord injury. A bill pending in the General Assembly this year would provide funding from fines and forfeitures to the trust fund.
“Rusty Kidd was a statesman and community leader who left Milledgeville, Baldwin County and the state of Georgia better off thanks to his years of dedicated service,” Gov. Brian Kemp said.
Kidd said in 2016 that he was proud of bringing state funding to his district for a correctional facility, an intensive care facility for incarcerated juveniles, a center for youths who dropped out of school and a nursing home for parolees.
"Rusty Kidd enjoyed public service as much as anyone I have known. Always positive, always ready with a story, he loved to serve his community," said House Speaker David Ralston, a Republican from Blue Ridge. "His loyalty was completely to his constituents, and being a political independent allowed him to be that way."
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