- Georgia Rep. John Lewis died Friday at the age of 80, vacating his former position in the United States House of Representatives.
- Lewis was ready for reelection in November, and now Democrats have to find a replacement on the ballot.
- Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has 10 days to declare a date for a special election to allow voters to choose a replacement for Kemp until his term ends in January 2021, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- The Georgia Democratic Party announced Saturday the process in which it plans to select a candidate to replace Lewis on the November ballot for the next congressional period at 4 p.m. Monday.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
Georgia Rep. John Lewis died at age 80 on Friday after a months-long battle with stage IV pancreatic cancer. After 17 terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives, Lewis vacates his seat in Georgia’s fifth congressional district a few months before the longtime legislator was re-elected.
Under Georgia law, State Governor Brian Kemp has 10 days to announce a special election to fill Lewis’s office for the remainder of the remaining term of Congress, which ends in January, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Kemp can choose the date of the special election and can decide to hold it in conjunction with the November general election, the newspaper reported, meaning Lewis’s seat could be vacant for months.
Kemp’s office did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment on Saturday about when it might announce a special election.
The Georgia Democratic Party will have until Monday at 4:30 pm to decide to replace Lewis on the ballot.
While voters will have to choose an interim replacement for the civil rights leader during a special election, in November they will be tasked with deciding who should fill Lewis’s position for the next two years, as the late lawmaker was ready to re-election in November. Fall general election.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Congressman John Lewis, and we very much wish we were not in this position today,” Sachin Varghese, general counsel for the Georgia Democratic Party, said in a statement. “The Georgia Democratic Party takes seriously our legal responsibility to nominate a candidate for this position, and we are doing everything we can to honor the legacy of Congressman Lewis and the people of the Fifth District throughout this process as we work within the applicable legal framework. “
Under Georgia state law, the state Democratic Party must decide whether to replace Lewis’s name on the ballot by 4:30 pm Monday. In a statement, state Democrats announced that anyone interested in filling Lewis’s position must complete and submit an application available on the party’s website by 6:30 pm Sunday.
A committee of nominations for 5th District officials and Georgia Democratic Party leaders including Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former Georgia Gov. Stacey Abrams and five other local officials will review applicants and make recommendations to the executive committee. of the party.
Then, at 12 p.m. Monday, the executive committee will elect a nominee and present that name to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger by 4 p.m. Monday.
In June, Lewis won 87% of the vote against primary challenger Barrington Martin II, a 32-year-old Atlanta educator who received 13% of the vote, according to results from the Georgia Secretary of State.
Anyone the party selects as a candidate to replace Lewis on the ballot will face Angela Stanton-King, the Republican challenger who announced her candidacy in March, according to local media 11alive. Stanton-King, the goddaughter of Alveda King, a right-wing religious figure who is the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., according to the report.
In February, Stanton-King received a pardon from President Donald Trump for his 2004 conviction on federal conspiracy charges for his involvement in an auto theft network, according to the report. Since then, Stanton-King has authored three books and appeared on the BET reality television series “From the Bottom Up.”
As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted, Stanton-King’s bid for the Lewis seat is a long shot in the heavily democratic Lewis district that encompasses downtown Atlanta.
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