African-American Republican wins election in Snellville Georgia

Buzz Blog ^ | 10/4/05 | Buzz Brockway

[GPBurdell]

Last Tuesday (September 27th) the voters of Georgia House District 106 elected Melvin Everson in a Special Election Runoff. The results were extremely close with a final margin of only 27 votes (final results here).

In the interest of full disclosure I must tell you that I was the campaign manager for the Everson campaign and am obviously pleased with the result. Now that the campaign is over I would like to make some comments and do my best not to appear self-congratulatory. I agreed to manage the Everson campaign because I consider Melvin a friend and I know first hand his political beliefs: He is unquestionably a Conservative. I doubt I will manage a campaign again anytime soon, as the time necessary to run a campaign properly is considerable, and I have a full-time day job. In other words, I'm tired, but it's a good tired. :-)

A quick comment about turnout: The Special Election on August 30th had a turnout of 12%. Small, but quite impressive for a Special Election. My research of previous Special Elections in Gwinnett County showed turnout ranging from 3% to 6%. The political science folks tell us to expect a runoff to have about half the turnout of the initial election, however, turnout for this Special Election Runoff was 11%. In other words, almost 90% of the people who voted in the Special Election came back and voted in the runoff. That is astounding.

This election was historic because Everson became the first African-American Republican to win a contested election in Georgia since Reconstruction. This is no small feat. District 106 is 86% white and overwhelmingly Republican. This is not a district the pundits would pick as a place a Black Republican could win. In addition, Snellville has gone through tremendous political change in recent years as the "old guard" that had governed Snellville for over 2o years was replaced in 1999 by a new guard with new ideas. Everson was part of this new guard and helped take Snellville along the path it is on now. Property tax millage rates fell every year Everson was on the Council and the "new guard" reduced the millage rate from 6.00 in 1998 to 3.65 where it stands today. A new City Hall is being built to give Snellville a "downtown" and help create a stronger community identity.

I give you this background to illustrate the fact that internal Snellville politics (old guard vs. new guard) played a factor in the Special Election for House District 106. Everson's opponent in the Special Election runoff was aligned with Snellville's old guard and the election results reflect this. The old parts of Snellville went for Mr. Auld, while the newer parts of Snellville, along with the parts of District 106 outside the Snellville city limits went for Everson.

Was race a factor in the campaign? The short answer is yes. None of the candidates injected race into the campaign until Mr. Auld made a veiled reference to it in the closing days. In addition, for some time, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution(AJC) had attempted to frame the campaign by claiming that people who endorsed Everson (such as Congressman John Linder, Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson, District Attorney Danny Porter, Sheriff Butch Conway and others) did so only to put a more diverse face on the GOP. Auld picked up on this in the final days of the campaign urging voters to reject "political correctness" and complaining that the GOP establishment had "anointed" Everson.

It's true that many elected Republican officials endorsed Everson. However, Auld and the AJC were either unaware of, or unwilling to acknowledge, Everson's long ties to the Republican Party in Gwinnett. Consider this quote from Congressman Linder:

I am proud to endorse my long time friend Melvin Everson for his election to the Georgia State House. Melvin did an exceptional job as Mayor Pro Tem for the City of Snellville, serving his fellow citizens with great distinction. As a member of the Georgia State House, I know that he will maintain his high level of integrity and continue to serve his constituents with the same diligence and vigor that he applies to all aspects of his life.

Congressman Linder has known Melvin for a number of years. The others who endorsed Melvin have also known him for some time. They did not endorse because he was black, they endorsed because, in their view, he was the best candidate running. Additionally, Everson has worked to elect a number of the GOP officials endorsing him. To say that these officials endorsed solely or mostly to diversify the GOP is to ignore the facts.

Everson campaigned on his record on the City Council and pledged to fight any effort to give taxpayer dollars to illegal immigrants. The citizens of District 106 examined the candidates based on the issues and they should be proud that race was not the deciding issue in the campaign.

By taking race out of the decision making process, the voters of District 106 have given hope to African-American conservatives all over Georgia. They have also struck a blow at the race-baiters who seek to inject race into all political issues and they have also given Republicans guidance on how to campaign. As Jim Wooten of the AJC wrote following the election:

• You knew the first successes by black conservatives as Republicans would come in majority-white districts — and, indeed, that's the case with Snellville City Councilman Melvin Everson, who won state House District 106 in south Gwinnett County on Tuesday. This is historic. If state Republicans take principled positions for less taxes, smaller government, ownership, opportunity and personal responsibility, blacks will come. Whites, Asians and Latinos, too.

Indeed, the most conservative Republican won the Special Election Runoff last Tuesday. The fact that Melvin Everson is an African-American should warm the hearts of conservatives everywhere.

Other articles about the election of Melvin Everson: AJC: Q&A WITH MELVIN EVERSON

Gwinnett Daily Post: Everson Wins