Atlanta Progressive News

(APN) ATLANTA –In our continuing coverage of the upcoming May 24, 2022 General Primary Election, this article is the third part of our overview of statewide races. 

 

Previously, part one covered the statewide races for Governor, Lt. Governor, and Secretary of State.

 

https://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2022/04/17/2022-statewide-races-overview-part-one/

 

Part two covered the statewide races for Attorney General, Commissioner of Agriculture, and Commissioner of Insurance.

 

https://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2022/05/01/2022-statewide-races-overview-part-two/

 

This part covers the statewide races for School Superintendent and Commissioner of Labor.

 

Previously, APN has also interviewed four of nine candidates for the Democratic nomination for Lt. Governor of Georgia.

 

SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT

 

Four candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination for School Superintendent: Currey Hitchens; Cobb County Schools Board of Education Member Dr. Jaha Howard; James Morrow, Jr.; and former State Rep. Alisha Thomas Searcy (D-Austell), who served under the name Alisha Thomas Morgan.

 

 

Hitchens is a legal aid attorney and former teacher in the City Schools of Decatur.

 

Dr. Howard has served as a Board of Education Member in Cobb County Schools since 2018. 

 

Morrow, Jr. is a social studies teacher and basketball coach in Clayton County Schools.

 

Former Rep. Alisha Thomas Searcy served in the State House of Representatives from 2003 to 2015; and is a proponent of charter schools and privatization of public schools.

 

Incumbent Republican School Superintendent Richard Woods faces one challenger in the Republican Primary: former School Superintendent John D. Barge.

 

Former Superintendent Barge previously served from 2011 to 2015.  In 2014, Barge ran for Governor of Georgia, coming in third place in the Republican Primary for Governor.

 

In 2020, Barge ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. Congress for the Fourteenth Congressional District, but lost to Marjorie Taylor Greene, who won the nomination and General Election.

 

COMMISSIONER OF LABOR 

 

Five candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination for Commissioner of Labor: State Rep. William Boddie (D-East Point); Thomas Dean; Nicole Horn; State Sen. Lester Jackson, III (D-Savannah); and Nadia Surrency.

 

State Rep. Boddie has served since 2018.  

 

Thomas Dean is a courier.

 

Horn is an entrepreneur and former journalist.

 

State Sen. Jackson, III, has served since 2010.

 

Surrency is the CEO of a human resources firm.

 

Incumbent Mark Butler, a Republican, is not seeking reelection.

 

Three candidates are seeking the Republican nomination for Commissioner of Labor: Kartik Bhatt; Deputy Labor Commissioner Mark Coan; and Bruce Thompson.

 

Bhatt is a businessman.

 

Deputy Commissioner Coan is a former State Representative (R-Lawrenceville), having been elected in 1996 and serving fourteen years.

 

Thompson is an entrepreneur.

 

(END / Copyright Atlanta Progressive News / 2022)