Walker, Kemp campaign in Ga. together for the 1st time
Published in National Desk on November 29, 2012 | Updated at February 6, 2013 | (Comments)
LOS ANGELES — With two Democratic challengers looking to flip the House in the November’s midterm elections, the stakes were high for Georgia candidates on both sides of the aisle to make sure they hit the ground running.
House Democrats’ two top candidates, Reps. Jack Kingston and Phil Gingrey, hit the campaign trail in a swing of their own on Tuesday, a day ahead of the state’s presidential primary, which featured a record turnout in Georgia.
Rep. Tom Allen, D-N.C., who is challenging Rep. John B. Larson, R-Conn., also campaigned with Kingston and Gingrey. The five-term congressman, who is running for reelection, has been spending the past month preparing his campaign in advance of the Nov. 4 election.
“We have been working diligently over the past several days to come up with a platform and build our campaign,” Allen said.
With the congressional races in both parties so important, the final hours before the primaries were about getting organized and finalizing the campaign message.
“One of the things we had talked a lot about was what we would do after the Democratic primaries were over,” Kingston said. “We wanted to go to Washington, D.C., and try to build on what we had done here, and I said, ‘Do you want to come to Atlanta and see what’s available?’ and my wife and I went, and I thought they did a great job at it — and then came back to Georgia. It’s a long run ahead.”
While the congressman is spending a lot of time on the campaign trail, Allen is also going through a series of fund-raising and donor meetings, where he is looking to get support from the Democratic Party.
“The biggest challenge I have with my campaign is to get the Democratic Party behind me,” Allen said. “I have tried to do that, but I’ve made a lot of friends there; the Democrats are my friends and I don’t want to lose their support. I’m working harder at it than I have been before.”
Among the other candidates competing to win back control of the U.S. House, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, won the backing of the U.S.