According to our sources in Atlanta, Rep Tom Knox (R-Forsyth County), the current House Insurance Committee Chairman, has decided to run for State Insurance Commissioner.
Political observers apparently weren’t particularly impressed with the fundraising efforts of State Senator Seth Harp (R-Midland) or State Senator Ralph Hudgens (R-Hull), and many may be deciding that another candidate may fare much better. The House Republican Caucus Retreat is this weekend, and it is expected that Knox and his campaign will be quite the topic of conversation – and (possibly) checks.
To put this in perspective, there are 105 House Republican Caucus members. If half of those give Knox a $500 check, he will have generated $26,250. This means he would already have more money raised than Senator Harp, nearly as much as Stephen Northington, roughly half as much as Mary Squires -the only announced Democrat in the race – and nearly a third of Senator Hudgens, the current fundraising leader in this race at just over $80,000. However, Committee Chairmen and other leaders in the General Assembly are known to give $1,000 on average, potentially moving him into the number 3 (or higher) slot in terms of fundraising – in a single weekend.
It is also interesting to note that this is the only race where no sitting member of the General Assembly or their campaigns has donated, and many in both chambers may be waiting on this announcement.
This should certainly make for an even more interesting weekend than was already anticipated!
For the record, Squires has received contributions from Rep. Hugh Floyd, Rep. Lee Thompson, Rep. Benfield and many more endorsements. Additionally, it’s important to look at the contributors in terms of local party support.
Brad,
Benfield is listed nowhere on Squires’ disclosure. I had no reason to suspect that either Floyd or Thompson were House members, since it was not listed in any fashion on Squires’ disclosure. Indeed, Thompson is listed as ‘Thompson, Lee’, an ‘Attorney’ and ‘Thompson Sweeney’ – no mention in there at all of his other job as State Representative, which from what I have seen thus far is highly unusual.
That said, you are correct on Floyd and Thompson, and I do stand corrected. There has been a total of $450 donated by a General Assembly member in this race, to Squires, though that is STILL the least I have seen in any race other than possibly the Superintendent of Schools race from the General Assembly members.
The overall point still stands that by and large, the General Assembly seems oddly quiet on this race, which does indeed lead to quite a bit of speculation – speculation that Knox could very well resolve in his favor.
[...] Knox has indeed filed to run for State Insurance Commissioner, as I reported would happen more than a month ago. I didn’t get any campaign emails, and I don’t know [...]
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