SAVANNAH, Ga. — Now that Rep. John Barrow has turned down a campaign for the U.S. Senate, the challenge ahead for the Deep South’s last white Democratic congressman will be to defy the odds a second time by winning re-election in an eastern Georgia district that was drawn to ensure his defeat.
With the 2014 primaries more than a year away, several Republicans are taking a hard look at opposing Barrow in the 12th District that sprawls across 19 mostly rural counties and includes the cities of Augusta, Statesboro, Dublin and Vidalia. One GOP candidate says he’ll be running full-time as of June, and others pondering the race said they will probably make up their minds this summer.
Barrow’s re-election to a fifth term in November was a big upset for Republicans after GOP state lawmakers redrew the district in 2011 to carve out Savannah – Barrow’s home and Democratic base – and replace it with mostly rural, conservative communities. Barrow moved to Augusta and spent more than $2.8 million on a campaign that cast him as an independent who’s pro-gun and often at odds with President Barack Obama. He defeated Republican state Rep. Lee Anderson of Grovetown with a commanding 54 percent of the vote – a margin made possible only by thousands of Mitt Romney voters crossing party lines to support Barrow.
“I know it wasn’t a fluke,” Barrow said in an interview last week. “The vast majority of American voters are dissatisfied with the (party) brands and call themselves independents. They want to judge the goods on the merits.”
via SAVANNAH, Ga.: Several Republicans weighing challenge to Barrow | State News | Macon.com.
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