Amber Brantley’s campaign for Augusta Circuit district attorney kicked into high gear with the grand opening of it south Augusta headquarters on Monday March 11.
“This community needs change, and I believe that I am that change,” Brantley told guests. “From the backlog from the jails being overpopulated, to people not being held accountable… And so with this campaign, we will uphold, we will protect and we will restore.”
Brantley, a former Richmond County assistant solicitor, qualified to run for D.A. on Thursday, March 7, but announced her candidacy in October of last year. A resident of Hephzibah, she says a need to impact conditions where she lived inspired her to run to be Augusta’s top prosecutor.
“Raising my kid in this community, raising her in the school system, really seeing what’s happening here, just really gave my heart the push that I needed to be a part of the change that I want to see,” she said. “People can sit down and lay out why this or that didn’t happen, but until you actually take a leap of faith and step out and be the change that you want to see, nothing’s going to change.”
Brantley is currently the senior assistant district attorney of the Columbia County Judicial Circuit, where she came aboard in 2021 at its beginning. She became Columbia County’s first Black assistant D.A., drawing the praise of District Attorney Bobby Christine and the Assistant District Attorney of the Year Award from the District Attorney Association of Georgia.
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If elected, Brantley said she hopes her work, rather than her reputation, ultimately speaks for her if elected.
“I really want to get in there and just do the work as far as moving cases, as far as holding people accountable,” she said, mentioning bringing back the Crimes Against the Vulnerable and Elderly (C.A.V.E.) task force, which disbanded at the end of 2020, and addressing jail overcrowding. “I just really want to show people that I have a passion for this, I have a heart for this.”
Paul Coppett, pastor of Cathedral of Praise Church in Augusta, where Brantley attends services was among the family and friends who gathered in support at the storefront headquarters. Coppett, lauding her accomplishments, says he was initially surprised about her political aspirations.
“She was actually second guessing herself over whether she should [run],” said Coppett. “Then when she came back that day with the confidence to say, ‘No, I can do it,’ I knew it was time. It was an amazing thing to see her go through this journey.”
The Amber Brantley campaign headquarters is located at 2492 Tobacco Road in Hephzibah. The primary election, on which Brantley will be running on the Democratic ticket, is on May 21.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
