State Rep. Ken Vance stood at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Columbia Street in Milledgeville on the first day of early voting this week, holding a sign emblazoned with his name.
He considers himself the incumbent, but the territory has shifted as he runs for reelection in the newly drawn House District 149. The demographic makeup of the new district — which covers parts of Baldwin and Jones counties and the edge of Macon-Bibb County — is a little less favorable to Republicans, he said, so he’s been out campaigning and knocking on doors.
“It was a lot easier the first time,” Vance said, adding he mostly relied on sending mailers to voters’ homes, posting signs throughout the community and using social media for his 2022 campaign. “But this time, you’ve got to have that personal touch.”
During the state’s redistricting process last year, a U.S. district judge said the initial maps lawmakers created illegally diluted voting opportunities among the Black population. Republicans redrew their lines, and the federal judge approved this version of the electoral map.
“Obviously, I wasn’t thrilled with it because the other district, 133 at the time, was a very, very predominantly Republican district,” Vance said. “But I’m a team player, and you play the hand you get dealt.”
He added, “If I didn’t think I could win, I wouldn’t run.”
Vance’s Democratic opponent, Floyd Griffin, has had the opposite experience in the run-up to the November election: “This is the easiest campaign that I have been involved in,” he said.
Griffin is a retired Army veteran. He served as a state senator between 1994 and 1998, and he became the first Black mayor of the city of Milledgeville. He also ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor and secretary of state.
As is the case in many smaller cities in Georgia, Griffin and Vance are no strangers. Vance served on the Milledgeville City Council when Griffin was mayor. According to both of their accounts, Vance approached the other members of the board to change to a city-manager type of government, which weakens the power of the mayor.
“Obviously, he didn’t like that,” Vance said, calling the two “polar opposites.”
That doesn’t mean Vance doesn’t get along with all Democrats. He considers state Rep. Mack Jackson, D-Sandersville, a respected colleague.
“We talk about once a week, sometimes more than that,” he said. “We have a rule that if we do not agree and sign off on it, it isn’t happening. It’s got to go through both of us.”
Griffin said he is running for the seat because he is concerned about a woman’s right to make decisions about her own reproductive choices.
At 80 years old, Griffin said he doesn’t plan to stay in the seat forever.
“I’m not saying it’s a steppingstone, but I definitely will be attempting to find someone in the younger generation to be able to take this seat when I decide to leave,” he said.
Vance said he’s running because he’s concerned about the economy, public safety and education.
“I want a clean community, well lit and safe, where people can go about their business without having to worry about all these other things,” he said.
He was one of just seven Republicans who voted against Senate Bill 233, which uses taxpayer money to subsidize the cost of private education. Parents of students in lower-performing schools can get $6,500 per year to use for a private or homeschool education.
“You chose to send your child to a private school, and that’s fine. I have no problem with that, but giving public dollars to private schools, to me, is just the wrong way to go about things,” he said. “I had a problem with a lot of the things in the bill.”
Despite Vance’s disagreements with Gov. Brian Kemp on the school voucher legislation, he said the governor has been extremely helpful to his campaign. But when it comes to the top of his party’s ticket, former President Donald Trump, Vance keeps quiet.
“I’m just trying to get me elected. That doesn’t mean one way or the other. ... Don’t take that to mean anything more than it is,” he said.
Vance, who is also an educator and published author of poetry, said his campaigning will continue until the election is called.
“Nobody’s going to outwork me. They just aren’t,” he said. “They might outspend, but they will not outwork me.”
