Columbia County businessman Russell Wilder has filed a declaration of intent, officially making him a candidate for Georgia’s district 131, a seat currently held by Rep. Jodi Lott.
Lott announced in early July that she intends to retire from the General Assembly and will not seek reelection in 2024.
Wilder worked at Plant Vogtle for 17 years before opening Top Shelf Cigars on Columbia Road in Martinez in 2004.
Wilder, a Columbia County resident since 1988, says he will run for the seat as a Republican.
While Wilder has never held elected office before, he is no stranger to politics. Customers of his popular retail store not only come in to buy themselves a fine cigar, but to talk about everything from national politics to what is going on with the local school board.
“I thought about running for Ben Harbin’s seat when he stepped down in 2015, but my friends talked me off of that ledge,” Wilder said.
Wilder says the timing simply was not right and he felt that he needed to focus on working in the community and building relationships locally before attempting to represent his constituents in Atlanta.
Currently, Wilder chairs the Columbia County Library Board, has served for five years on the Columbia County Planning Commission and is a former member of the Columbia County Green Space Advisory Board.
Wilder says that he is a staunch defender of both the first and second Amendments and that he intends to be a strong voice for election fairness and integrity.
While he says that Senate Bill 202, which was adopted by the Georgia General Assembly in 2021, goes a long way to ensure fair and proper elections, he would like to see Georgia return to the old standard when it comes to absentee ballots.
“I worked a job that started at 6:30 in the morning and ended at 6:30 in the evening, 40 miles away, and most of the time I was able to make it to the polls without using an absentee ballot,” Wilder said.
According to Wilder, his belief is that mostly only the disabled, aged, military serving abroad and students attending college out of town should qualify for an absentee ballot, especially since Georgia has three weeks worth of early voting.
“In my mind, there is no reason to have that much paper floating around,” Wilder said.
As a father, Wilder says that he will also work to ensure parental rights in schools in the midst of the national trend of schools adopting policies of aiding and counseling students who feel they might be transgender without any knowledge of the child’s parents.
Wilder says that he will also stand up for maintaining female sports as activities for biological females.
“I certainly have nothing against people who think they are transgender, but it is so unfair for young women to train all their lives to rise to the top in female sports only to be beaten by a guy who has figured out how to win a trophy,” Wilder said.
Meanwhile, Lott has said that she is not going to endorse a candidate, but will be happy to advise anyone running on what to expect on the campaign trail as well as in office if elected.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
