U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath files to form governor’s race exploratory committee

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, a Democrat who has represented a northern metro Atlanta congressional district in Washington since 2019, has filed paperwork to form an exploratory committee for governor.

Incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp is constitutionally prohibited from seeking a third term next year, meaning Georgia’s governor’s race will be a wide-open affair in less than two years.

Forming an exploratory committee would allow McBath to hire staff and raise money for a potential gubernatorial campaign.

Republican Attorney General Chris Carr has already launched his own campaign, while Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger are widely rumored to be considering their own campaigns.

“Georgians deserve a governor who understands what’s at stake because they’ve lived it,” McBath said in a statement. “As a mom and breast cancer survivor, I’ve seen firsthand how regular people are too often left out of the political process. I look forward to continuing this conversation with my neighbors and fellow Georgians.”

McBath has been repeatedly drawn into different congressional districts through court-ordered redistricting efforts stemming from the 2020 census. In 2018, McBath ousted incumbent Republican Karen Handel for the congressional seat once held by Newt Gingrich.

Handel won that seat in a 2017 special election that became the nation’s most expensive congressional race in U.S. history; Handel defeated Democrat Jon Ossoff, who used that campaign’s national exposure to help him win election to the U.S. Senate in 2020.

McBath was then drawn into a district with fellow Democratic congresswoman Carolyn Bourdeaux, who she ousted in a contested Democratic primary in 2020.

If successful, McBath would become the nation’s first Black female governor. Fellow Democrat Stacey Abrams twice unsuccessfully tried to take that mantle in gubernatorial bids in 2018 and 2022 against Kemp.

Shortly after her announcement, the Republican Governor’s Association (RGA) issued a statement, criticizing her record.

“McBath campaigned on protecting Georgia families, then went to Washington and became part of the problem,” said Courtney Alexander, RGA communications director. “McBath’s record includes embracing an out-of-touch economic agenda that drastically drove up costs for Georgia families, supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants, and standing against parents’ rights and protecting young children.”

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