Floyd Griffin wants his old seat back in the Georgia State Senate, and has begun the journey to make it a reality by qualifying during the final week of April.
As the campaign season begins, Griffin will be touring the district and talking with citizens about a variety of issues that are of interest to them.
District Senate Seat 25 consists of Baldwin, Butts, Greene, Hancock, Jasper, Morgan, Putman, Taliaferro, and parts of Jones and Warren County. Some of the county seats that are included are: Milledgeville, Jackson, Greensboro, Sparta, Monticello, Madison, Warrenton, Madison, Eatonton and some areas of the city of Gray.
The veteran Democrat made history when he defeated former incumbent state Sen. Wilbur Baugh in 1994 to become the first African-American candidate elected in a majority white district in Georgia since Reconstruction.
In 1998, Griffin decided not to seek re-election of his Senate seat, because he wanted to run for lieutenant governor. However, he lost to eventual winner Mark Taylor.
Griffin attempted to regain his former Senate seat in 2000, but was unsuccessful in his bid. However, he ran for mayor of Milledgeville, and won in 2001.
Griffin’s opponent will be Johnny Grant, who has occupied the state Senate seat since 2005.
During Grant’s tenure, Milledgeville has had to deal with loss of several major businesses, the closing of prisons and layoffs at Central State Hospital.
Grant, a Republican, is chairman of the State Institutions and Property Committee, vice chair of the State and Local Governmental Operations Committee, and is a member of the Health and Human Services, Governmental Oversight and Appropriations committees.
Griffin is likely to run on a platform to help restore what has been lost in the Milledgeville area, and be a counterbalance to the conservative agenda which has dominated Georgia state politics the last few years.
Besides being a former state senator and mayor of Milledgeville, Griffin served nearly a quarter of a century in the U.S. Army before retiring.
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