Columbia and McDuffie county voters got a chance Tuesday to hear from four – three Republicans, one Libertarian – of the five candidates running to represent them in a Feb. 13 special election.
Early voting is ongoing now for the House District 125 seat, vacated by Rep. Barry Fleming, R-Harlem, when Gov. Brian Kemp made him a superior court judge.
The unique election has been marked by the candidacy of child internet phenom C.J. Pearson, who is now 21 and making a bid to represent the suburban Grovetown area where he was raised.
View the full forum on The Augusta Press Facebook page.
“At 21 years old, I am more qualified and able to be the state representative for this district than Joe Biden is at 81 years old,” quipped Pearson, an Evans High School grad who attended the University of Alabama.
Pearson said he’d spent “nearly a decade on the front lines” of conservative politics and wants to abolish Georgia’s income tax and Certificate of Need laws if elected.
Jim Steed, a former teacher who owns a dairy farm, said his family had been in the area for nearly 100 years and has a connection to its people.
MORE: Residency challenged for district 125 candidate C.J. Pearson
Parts of the suburban district, which spans Grovetown and Harlem and unincorporated areas of McDuffie County, are rural.
Gary Richardson described himself as an Augusta native who lost his parents and sister as an infant and was raised by his grandfather, to eventually found the Sparkle Express car wash chain in 2004.
Richardson served on the Columbia County Planning Commission prior to serving two terms on the five-member Columbia County Board of Commissioners, where he was vice chairman.
He had to resign recently after qualifying to run for the House seat.
Pearson’s Internet fame prompted jabs from Richardson and others Tuesday, including whether he was a registered voter in Columbia County.
Pearson, a recent Augusta Press columnist, claimed to be registered to vote only at his grandparents’ Grovetown address and not in Alabama, where he once ran for mayor, or California, where he’s been a spokesman for Prager University.
Libertarian candidate John Turpish, a software developer who lives in Grovetown, said Georgia’s economy is unlikely finished with inflation as consumer prices remain high.
Turpish advocated for treating gold and silver as legal tender in the state.
In a rapid-fire portion of the debate, conducted by WJBF’s Brad Means based on questions written by the Columbia County Republican Party, Turpish said he opposed exempting school libraries from book bans. The others supported it.
Asked about supporting potentially controversial legislation that benefits District 125 residents, all four said they supported whatever their constituents felt was best.
All backed incrementally reducing or eliminating the state income tax.
“Any reduction is a good reduction,” Richardson said.
Were the events of Jan. 6, 2021 an insurrection? Richardson said yes.
“You’re not blaming somebody else for instigating to do it, right?” Steed asked.
“We should be talking about (Black Lives Matter) burning down American three summers ago and not Jan. 6,” Pearson said.
On Georgia adopting laws to protect the unborn at the moment of conception, only Turpish was opposed.
Turpish said he did not trust the government on matters like climate change.
None opposed the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage, although Turpish said the government should stay out of marriage altogether.
