Former congressman John Barrow, an Athens native, campaigned in his hometown last week in a longshot bid for a seat on the Georgia Supreme Court. No Supreme Court justice has ever lost a race since the court was created in 1845, but if anyone can knock off an incumbent, it’s Barrow.
After serving 14 years on the Athens-Clarke County Commission, Barrow became the first Deep South Democrat to beat a Republican incumbent in a quarter-century when he defeated U.S. Rep. Max Burns in 2004. “As a reward, I became the most gerrymandered man in the history of the republic,” he told Athens-Clarke County Democrats last week. First Republican state legislators removed his hometown from his district, forcing him to move to Savannah. When that didn’t work, they took out Savannah, and Barrow went to Augusta. Nevertheless, the Blue Dog Democrat triangulated his way to victory four times until Rick Allen finally unseated him in 2014.
Four years later, Barrow outperformed the top of the ticket in forcing a runoff with Brad Raffensperger for secretary of state. In 2020, Barrow sought Robert Benham’s Georgia Supreme Court seat, but was foiled when Benham retired, giving Gov. Brian Kemp the opportunity to appoint his replacement and postpone the election.
Now, Barrow is the definition of a single-issue candidate, and that issue is abortion. “I believe Georgians have the same rights under the Georgia constitution as we used to have under Roe v. Wade,” he said.
The Dobbs ruling made abortion a state issue, not a federal one, so Barrow said he is running for Georgia Supreme Court to “protect us from the Georgia legislature,” which enacted a harsh six-week abortion ban in 2019 (with Athens state Rep. Houston Gaines as the deciding vote) that took effect when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022. In 2023, the Georgia Supreme Court allowed the law to stay in effect while a lawsuit claiming that the so-called “heartbeat bill” violates the state constitution’s privacy protections makes its way through the courts.
Barrow noted that Justice Andrew Pinson, whom he’s running against, is a member of the ultraconservative Federalist Society and clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. As state solicitor general, he signed onto the effort to overturn Roe. Pinson, 38, was appointed to the high court by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2022.
Among Barrow’s credentials, he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1979, along with Chief Justice John Roberts and the progressive former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold. “Two out of three ain’t bad,” Barrow quipped. His father, James Barrow, was a longtime judge in Athens, remembered particularly for his role in integrating the city during the civil rights movement.
The nonpartisan election is less than seven weeks away. “If you help me on May 21, we will strike a blow for Roe,” Barrow said.
Commission District 6 candidate Stephanie Johnson also spoke, pushing back against the idea that she is running to seek retribution against ACC Manager Blaine Williams. Johnson clashed with Williams during her time as ACC internal auditor and filed a federal lawsuit accusing him and Mayor Kelly Girtz of discrimination after the commission voted to fire her in 2021.
“I’m not running for District 6 because I’m angry, I have an ax to grind or I want to fire somebody,” she said. Instead, she said she is running to bring transparency and fiscal accountability to the local government.
District 8 incumbent Carol Myers told the audience that she expected a “chill” campaign until Laken Riley’s murder turned the race on its head. Her opponent, Sidney Waters, was among a small group that heckled Mayor Kelly Girtz during a news conference on public safety following Riley’s murder allegedly by Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan who entered the U.S. illegally. Waters also appeared on Fox News with the same small group of supporters to talk about Athens’ supposed “sanctuary” policies.
“My election May 21 embodies what we’re up against this election year,” Myers said. “My campaign is to show those 10 people don’t represent Athens.”
Myers said she is proud that Athens is a welcoming community for immigrants, seniors, LGBTQ residents and others.
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