Michelle Nunn Enters Georgia Senate Race – Washington Wire – WSJ

Ms. Nunn has close ties to Republicans as well as Democrats. For years she has headed the Points of Light Foundation, a nonprofit promoting volunteerism, founded by former Republican President George H.W. Bush. Ms. Nunn, President Barack Obama and Mr. Bush were on hand at the White House last week [July 15] at a Points of Light awards ceremony.

Ms. Nunn’s candidacy has been anticipated since early May, when Rep. John Barrow, the only white Democratic congressman in Georgia, announced that he would not seek the seat and would run instead for re-election to the House.

Ms. Nunn has never held political office, but her 74-year-old father, once a political powerhouse in Georgia and national politics, has strong ties with Democrats and Republicans in Washington. He is chairman of the Washington-based Center for Strategic & International Studies, a bipartisan international policy institute that focuses on various world problems, including nuclear weapons-proliferation.

Democrats are looking for opportunities around the nation to pick up seats in 2014 in their bid to maintain control of the Senate. Georgia is a GOP stronghold, with Republicans holding the governor’s office, both Senate seats and majorities in both houses of the state legislature. But Democrats are hoping to capitalize on the state’s rapidly changing demographics, including more African Americans and more Hispanic voters, as well as a crowded GOP primary.

via Michelle Nunn Enters Georgia Senate Race – Washington Wire – WSJ.