ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia congressional candidate convicted of a misdemeanor for illegally protesting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, walked out of a televised debate with a Republican colleague on Sunday ahead of the June 18 primary runoff.
This was the latest explosive turn in southwest Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District, where Chuck Hand and Wayne Johnson are vying for the Republican nomination to face 16-term Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop in November.
Hand is one of at least four people convicted of crimes from Jan. 6 who are running for Congress this year, all Republicans. He was sentenced to 20 days in federal prison and six months of probation.
At the start of a debate sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club, Hand said he refused to debate Johnson after Michael Nixon, who finished third in the May 21 primary, held a news conference last month endorsing Johnson.
Nixon brought criminal trespassing charges against Hand in 2005 and drunken driving charges in 2010, both of which were dismissed. Nixon also cited federal court documents to argue that Hand’s involvement in the January 6 riots was more stern than Hand had claimed.
“Here I am getting back in my truck and driving back to southwest Georgia because I still have two races to win,” Hand said as he left the studio in front of the cameras.
“You’re not staying?” asked presenter Donna Lowry. “You’re leaving, sir? OK.”
“Wow, I don’t know how to react,” Johnson said.
Johnson, a U.S. Department of Education official during Donald Trump’s administration, said Hand’s departure was further proof that Hand was not fit to run for the Republican nomination.
“I would like to think that Chuck Hand’s departure, as he did today, was his withdrawal from the race,” Johnson told reporters afterward. “But it should certainly make people pause and think about why he did it and what he was trying to accomplish by doing it.”
After leaving the debate, Hand answered questions from reporters for nearly twenty minutes, saying he believed Johnson helped organize Nixon’s attacks. Hand was particularly critical of Nixon’s mention of his wife’s previous conviction for illegally selling oxycodone.
“It’s perfectly fine to attack me as a candidate. That’s what I expect. But to attack my wife publicly is a completely different situation,” Hand said. “My wife had already paid her debt to society long before I even met her.”
He accused Johnson of not living within the boundaries of the constituency, which is not a requirement for congressional candidates.
Hand, a construction manager who lives in rural Butler, again portrayed himself as the leader of a labor movement seeking to improve the economic situation in one of Georgia’s poorest parts. Hand said he would rally black and white workers under the flag of Donald Trump. Hand has disdained the established formal dress of political candidates throughout the campaign and wore a blue denim shirt and Caterpillar baseball cap on Sunday.
Johnson won nearly 45% of the vote in the May 21 primary, while Hand received nearly 32%. Since no one won a majority, voters will choose the candidate in a runoff. Early in-person voting ahead of the June 18 election begins Monday.
(*6*) Hand said. The coalition we have built locally over these years will win this election. It is the grassroots activists on the ground who have done the groundwork and will win in November. America first? I am your candidate for the 2nd District, which is first.”
Johnson takes a more moderate position, saying any Republican who wants to beat Bishop will have to do more to appeal to the predominantly black Democrats who supported the longtime incumbent. During the debate, he said he does not support Republicans’ proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps.
“We need to get 50,000 people who normally vote Democrat to vote Republican,” Johnson told reporters after the debate. “And that will essentially be based on: ‘Can you prove to people, can you demonstrate to them in advance that you can actually make their lives better?'”
Johnson dismissed Hand’s attacks because he lives just outside the district in Macon. He said he has invested in district businesses and would move into his own home in Plains, Jimmy Carter’s hometown, if elected.
