Janice Laws Robinson on Tuesday won the Democratic nomination for Georgia insurance and safety fire commissioner, giving her a second shot at the post she lost narrowly four years ago.
Laws Robinson defeated fellow insurance agent Raphael Baker in the primary runoff.
She will face Republican incumbent John King in November. King the former Doraville police chief and and a major general in the U.S. National Guard, is the first Latino to hold statewide office in Georgia. He was named to the post by Gov. Brian Kemp after his immediate predecessor, Jim Beck, was indicted on charges he swindled money from a former employer. Beck is serving seven years and three months in federal prison after being convicted last year.
Laws Robinson was the Democratic nominee in 2018 but lost to Beck by 3 percentage points.
Baker and Laws Robinson were the two top voter getters in Georgia’s May 24 primary, but neither cleared the needed 50% benchmark. Baker skipped an Atlanta Press Club debate in advance of the runoff, leaving Laws Robinson debating an empty podium.
She pledged to restore integrity to the scandal-plagued office and said she would tackle Georgia’s high auto insurance costs by working to repeal a state law that prevents the insurance commissioner from blocking many rate increases.
Rolling back the law would require approval, however, from the state Legislature, which is expected to remain in GOP hands. The Republican majority in the General Assembly passed the law in the late 2000s.
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