Former state Rep. Doug McKillip is looking to make a political comeback by seeking the state Senate seat Bill Cowsert is vacating to run for attorney general.
First elected as a Democrat in 2006, McKillip earned local notoriety by switching parties in the aftermath of 2010’s Republican wave. GOP leadership in the House tried to protect him by shifting his blue-leaning Athens district to include portions of deep-red Oconee, Barrow and Jackson counties. But he lost in the Republican primary two years later, with several thousand Democrats crossing over to vote for his opponent, Regina Quick. He briefly considered running for his old seat in a 2017 special election, after then-Gov. Nathan Deal named Quick a Western Circuit Superior Court judge, but deferred to Houston Gaines, who lost to Deborah Gonzalez but then won a 2018 rematch and still holds the seat now.
In a news release announcing his candidacy, McKillip cast the loss as “sacrificing his House seat to secure passage of Georgia’s historic pro-life law that banned late-term abortions.” McKillip sponsored a controversial 20-week abortion ban in 2012, when Roe v. Wade was still in effect, and the generally accepted standard for when states could restrict abortions was around the 24th week of pregnancy, the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb.
“I’m driven by my faith, not political power. When Democrats threatened my family and my political career, I didn’t back down. They may have taken my seat, but I won for life, delivered conservative results and have no regrets because our values are worth fighting for,” he said in the news release. He promised “big wins for MAGA and the Georgia First agenda of President Trump and Gov. Brian Kemp,” including fighting to “eliminate the income tax, keep more money in our families’ pockets, block the Left’s woke ideology from our schools, crack down on illegal immigration to keep our families safe, and protect life and our Constitutional rights.”
The lawyer—who now lives in Oconee County with his wife Mary and three sons—said he would spend $400,000 of his own money on the campaign. Such deep pockets could muscle out any other potential Republican contenders.
Considered safe for Republicans, Senate District 46 includes Oconee County and parts of Clarke, Walton, Barrow and Gwinnett counties. Cowsert won by a 28-point margin each of the past two elections.
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