A democratic socialist who campaigned on workers’ rights, Gabriel Sanchez, ousted incumbent Democratic state Rep. Teri Anulewicz in Tuesday’s primary, a rare anti-establishment victory in Cobb County.
Sanchez, a 27-year-old waiter, said voters wanted a state representative who will fight for a more equitable economy with universal health care, affordable housing and a minimum wage of at least $20 an hour.
“Democratic socialism is something I really do believe in. What it means to me is having guaranteed housing and health care for every single person because those are basic needs,” Sanchez said Wednesday. “We should be able to provide that in the wealthiest country in the world.”
The Georgia General Assembly is run by Republicans who don’t have the same agenda.
Sanchez is the first democratic socialist candidate to win a primary for the Georgia House, according to the Atlanta chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, which endorsed him.
He now faces Republican Diane Jackson, who works in marketing, in this fall’s general election. The Smyrna-based district supported Democrat Joe Biden with 70% of the vote in the 2020 presidential election.
“Georgians’ top concerns are rising prices and crime, and my opponent is a democratic socialist whose agenda would make those issues worse,” Jackson said. “My opponent’s win shows how extreme and out of touch with Georgians the Democrats have become. Voters who want low taxes, safe communities and parents empowered on education decisions have a clear choice in this race.”
Anulewicz said her defeat shouldn’t be seen as a repudiation of the party’s direction, but abysmal turnout. Fewer than 4,000 people cast ballots in the Democratic primary out of more than 42,000 registered voters in House District 42.
Credit: Bob Andres/AJC
Credit: Bob Andres/AJC
“I served with hard work, integrity and honesty, and I ran my campaign with hard work, integrity and honesty,” said Anulewicz, who served in the House since 2017.
Sanchez said voters who supported him were concerned about heavy-handed policing as the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center is under construction.
Voters also turned against Anulewicz because her husband, Christopher Anulewicz, is an attorney representing a co-defendant in the Fulton County election interference case against Republican Donald Trump, Sanchez said.
Chris Anulewicz represents Bob Cheeley, an Alpharetta attorney who claimed to state lawmakers in late 2020 that election workers were double-counting votes.
“He’s not a public defender — he chose to defend this case —and it seems like that shouldn’t be something the husband of a Democratic representative should be doing,” Sanchez said.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
“Republicans want to use the talking point about socialism, but what they don’t realize is that the policies we believe in are what working people in this state believe in as well,” Sanchez said. “I’m sure we’re going to win by big numbers in November.”
— Staff writer Greg Bluestein contributed to this article.
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