One Georgia congress The candidate was found guilty of holding an illegal demonstration inside the US Congress building January 62021, out of nowhere Televised debate with fellow Republican Sunday before the June 18 primary runoff.
It was the latest swing in southwest Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District Chuck Ali and Wayne Johnson are vying for the GOP nomination to run for the 16-term Democratic presidential nomination. Rep. Sanford Bishop in November.
Al is one of at least four people on trial in the Jan. 6 crimes He is running for Congress All as Republicans this year. He was sentenced to 20 days in federal prison and six months of probation.
At the start of the Atlanta Press Club-sponsored debate, Hand said he had declined to discuss Johnson after Michael Nixon, who finished third in the May 21 four-way primary, held a news conference endorsing Johnson last month.
Nixon filed felony charges against Hand in 2005 and DUI charges in 2010, both of which were dismissed. Nixon also referred federal court documents Arguing that Hand’s involvement in the January 6 riot was more serious than Ali claimed.
“Here I am getting in my truck and going back to southwest Georgia because I have two races to win,” Hand said as we exited the studio as the cameras rolled.
“Aren’t you staying?” asked host Donna Lowry. “Are you going sir? OK.”
“Wow, I don’t even know how to react,” Johnson said.
Johnson, who was a U.S. Department of Education official during the Donald Trump administration, said Hand’s departure further proves Hand is unfit to be the Republican nominee.
“I would like to assume that Chuck Had’s departure, the way he did today, was that he withdrew from the race,” Johnson told reporters afterward. “But it certainly should make people stop and think about why he’s doing it and what he’s trying to achieve by doing it.”
After Hand left the debate, he answered questions from reporters for about 20 minutes, saying he believed Johnson helped orchestrate Nixon’s attacks. Hand was particularly critical of Nixon’s wife’s prior conviction for the illegal sale of oxycodone.
“It is very good to attack me as a candidate. I look forward to it. But to go out and openly attack my wife, that’s a completely different situation,” Hand said. “My husband paid his debt to society long before I ever met him.”
He attacked Johnson for not living in a district that is not required for congressional candidates.
Hand, a construction supervisor living in the village of Butler, once again found himself leading a labor movement to improve economic conditions in one of the poorest parts of Georgia. Al said that he would gather the black and white workers under his banner Donald Trump. Hand, wearing a blue denim shirt and Caterpillar baseball cap on Sunday, disdained the traditional formal attire of political candidates throughout the campaign.
Johnson won almost 45% of the vote in the May 21 primary The hand won almost 32%. Since no one won a majority, voters will determine the candidate in a runoff. Early in-person voting begins the Monday before the June 18 election.
“Money won’t win this election, heart will, voters will,” Hand said. The coalition we have built on the foundation of these years will win these elections. It is local activists who are preparing to win in November. America first? I am your 2nd District First candidate.”
Johnson took a more moderate stance, saying any Republican hoping to defeat Bishop must do more to appeal to black Democrats who have long supported the incumbent. During the debate, he said he did not support Republican cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps.
“We’re going to have to get 50,000 people who normally vote Democratic to vote Republican,” Johnson told reporters after the debate. “And it’s basically, ‘Can you prove to people, can you demonstrate to people ahead of time that you can make their lives better?’
Johnson dismissed Hand’s attacks on him because he lives just outside the Macon area, saying he has invested in area businesses and would move to Jimmy Carter’s hometown of Plains if elected.