DECATUR, Ga. — A Georgia congressional race will get some new drama when former Democrat Vernon Jones joins a large field of Republicans competing to replace congressman Jody Hice.
Jones pulled out of the governor’s race Monday and hopes to run for congress with former president Donald Trump’s endorsement.
A lot of Republicans mostly ignored Jones when he was running for governor. However, may not be able to do that in the 10th congressional district.
"I am the front runner in this race," declared Mike Collins in an interview with 11Alive News Tuesday.
Collins narrowly lost last time he ran for congress eight years ago but added he has even more heft this time.
"You know, we were an early 2015 Trump supporter way back before he was even the nominee. And I think people respect that," Collins said.
Georgia’s 10th district goes from parts of Henry County all the way to the South Carolina line. There are 11 candidates registered with the Federal Election Commission – all of them Republicans, most of them devotees of Trump.
But, few have had the face time with Trump that Jones has had. The one-time Democratic DeKalb CEO crowd-surfed at a Trump rally in middle Georgia – and gave up his run for governor after reportedly meeting with Trump.
Jones' association with Trump "certainly is a net positive for Vernon Jones," said GOP strategist Brian Robinson, who has no candidate in the race. "It helps in the 10th district. This is where Trump won overwhelmingly in 2020 and is still held in very high esteem."
But, Trump hasn’t endorsed Jones – at least not yet.
And in the meantime, Jones is getting clobbered as a congressional candidate by a website, engineered by Collins' campaign, that reminds voters of his past as a Democrat and as man whose brushes with the law are well documented.
"I don’t think the voters of the 10th district are looking for a corrupt, carpetbagging, lifetime Democrat," Collins said.
A DeKalb County grand jury previously accused Jones of a "culture of corruption" during his tenure as CEO. However, Jones has never been prosecuted.
As a DeKalb County fixture, Vernon Jones also doesn’t live in the 10th district. But, members of congress don’t legally have to live in the districts they represent as long as they live somewhere in the state.
Jones didn’t respond to requests for comment.