“We are still grieving,” Fulton County Democratic Committee chair LeWanna Heard-Tucker told CNN on Sunday. “This is the process unfortunately.”
Heard-Tucker is one of seven local Democratic leaders on a committee tasked with reviewing applications from Georgians interested in being the party’s candidate. Those interested in being the Democratic candidate had until 6:30 pm ET on Sunday to run.
The Georgia Democratic Party announced Sunday night that 131 candidates had submitted.
The committee will cut applicants to three to five prospects to recommend to the state executive committee, which will meet practically Monday at noon to consider the recommendations.
The party said it would release the three or five recommended individuals, as well as the full list of applicants, by noon Monday.
Under Georgia law, the party must inform the Georgia secretary of state’s office if it intends to appoint a replacement by Monday, and then inform the office who their replacement candidate is shortly thereafter, the secretary of Georgia adjunct state Jordan Fuchs to CNN.
The Georgia Democratic Party said it would publicly announce the name of the nominee.
A local Democratic strategist with knowledge of the process told CNN that some possible candidates could be state Democratic President and State Senator Nikema Williams, Atlanta City Councilman Andre Dickens and former President of the Atlanta City Council, Ceasar Mitchell.
The source described Williams as a close link to Lewis. His state’s senate district is within the 5th Congressional District and many people “in his world are connected to it,” the source said.
CNN has reached out to the Georgia Democratic Party for comment on the process. CNN has reached out to Williams, Dickens and Mitchell to comment on whether they submitted a request.
When asked what kind of candidate the committee is looking for, Heard-Tucker told CNN on Sunday: “I don’t think we’ve gotten to that point yet.”
“We are not there yet for a committee to say what we are looking for. It will be difficult to fill his seat,” said Heard-Tucker, adding: “John has huge shoes to fill.”
Former House of Representatives state minority leader Stacey Abrams, another member of the nominating committee, declined to comment. Spokespeople for Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, also on the committee, did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
The application asks six questions including, “why are you the best person to represent” the 5th District and “what links” does the person have with the district.
Vincent Fort, who served in the state Senate for more than two decades and ran for Atlanta mayor in 2017, told CNN that he submitted his application and hopes to be considered, but is concerned about an “opaque” process.
“I think the process should be open and transparent,” Fort told CNN on Sunday. “We cannot be in a situation where there is a small group of people in a smoky room.”
Fort said that while “there will never be another John Lewis,” the candidate must be a person with experience in activism, but also politics, and whoever “follows” must follow his general commitment to voting rights and better health care. ”
But he said Lewis’s successor should not be expected to be in tune with Lewis’s political positions.
“It is unfair to say you have to be another John Lewis,” said Fort.
Lewis easily won the June Democratic primary with 87% of the vote.
Barrington Martin II, a progressive who was Lewis’ only rival in the Democratic primary, also applied for the nomination and expressed concern about the process.
“The Democratic Party has long been plagued by archaic, outdated, and worldly ideologies and has not served the greater good of the people it seeks to represent. Evidence of this can be seen throughout this process in which the power of choosing and choosing one’s own destiny has been removed from the people and replaced by bureaucratic technicalities that serve only a few and not many. I understand that these are simply the rules, yet the people who review all these applications have the power to suggest the necessary changes that should be made to better serve people, “Martin said in a statement provided to CNN on Sunday.
Lewis died Friday at the age of 80. In December, he was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
Martin in his statement defended his decision to confront Lewis, saying he values the district’s voters on the policy.
“I was proactive in ensuring that the people of this district were cared for as a result of Congressman Lewis’s untimely death; and now we are here,” said Martin.
Whatever the Democrats’ choice, she will face Republican Angela Stanton-King, an advocate of criminal justice reform and a former reality star, in the November general election.
Stanton-King had no dispute in the Republican primaries for the district. In February, she received a pardon from President Donald Trump for her involvement in a stolen vehicle ring in 2007, for which she served six months of home confinement.
Democrats are confident that the seat will remain in their hands.
This story has been updated to include new information from the Georgia Democratic Party on the number of applicants and more on the selection process.
CNN’s Annie Grayer contributed to this report.
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