Houston Gaines, who represents part of Oconee County in the Georgia House of Representatives, updated Oconee County Republicans early last month on his campaign for the party nomination for the 10th Congressional District as well on as his plans for the legislative session now underway.
Gaines said he has no announced opponents in the May primary but “We are running as though 25 people are running against us.”
Gaines said he decided to serve out his term in the Georgia House because he had been elected to do that and that he has bills he wants to get passed before the session ends in early April.
Gaines was followed to the podium by Chad Paton, who is one of three announced candidates seeking the Republican Party nomination in the May 19 Primary to replace Gaines in House District 120.
Next in line was Michael Brown, one of four candidates announced for Senate District 46, which includes all of Oconee County.
KJ Allen Kendrick, who also has announced he will compete in the primary for the party nomination for the 120th House District, had spoken at the November Oconee County Republican Party meeting.
Gaines used much of his time at the December meeting encouraging people to turn out to vote for Mack “Dutch” Guest IV, who ran unsuccessfully in the Dec. 9 Special Election for House District 121 and who has announced he will qualify for the May 19 Republic Party primary to run again for that seat.
Kathy Hurley, Chair of the Oconee County Republic Party, announced on Sunday morning that the party meeting scheduled for Monday evening (Jan. 26) has been cancelled because of the inclement weather.
Gaines On Accomplishments
In introducing Gaines at the Dec. 1 party meeting, Party Chair Hurley made clear her preferences.
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| Gaines 12/1/2025 |
“Fortunately we only have one person so far running in I think probably the most important race,” she said, before correcting herself and saying that the upcoming special election for House District 121 was more pressing. She noted that Guest “is standing back there” as she spoke.
When Gaines came forward to speak, he turned to the campaign in the special election for the 121st House District as well.
“If the Democrats flip 10 seats, they take over,” he said. “And I'll tell you, that’s very close to as bad as having a Democratic governor because you can't get any legislation passed if you don't have the House, Senate, and governor.”
“So, please get your friends and family out to vote,” he said.
Democrat Eric Gisler won that special election, and he has declared he plans to defend that seat this November.
“My record over the last seven years, and this is really why I'm running for Congress, is the last seven years I've worked to show that I know how to get things done,” Gaines said when he turned to his own campaign.
Gaines said he passed more than 25 bills that have become law while in the state legislature, including many laws address public safety issues. Gaines is in his eighth year in the Georgia House.
As examples, Gaines said he passed legislation allowing citizens to hold district attorneys accountable and a “very strict state level immigration law.”
“People ask me how do I come up with these ideas for legislation,” Gaines said. “I look at what Athens does, and I pass the opposite.”
The 120th House District is made up of the Northeast Precinct of Oconee County, parts of Clarke County, parts of Barrow County, and parts of Jackson County. Clarke County makes up the largest part of the district, but not the majority part.
Support For Trump
“We have stood up to the left,” Gaines said of his time in the Georgia House. “That's what we plan to do in Congress. I think we need people in Washington who know how to get stuff done.”
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| Gaines 12/1/2025 |
“Obviously, President Trump, since he's been back in office over the last seven or eight months, it's been a total change,” he said. “It's been amazing, the peace deals, the trade deals, which you're seeing on a day-to-day basis compared to what you saw under (former President Joseph) Biden. We need more folks to go to Washington and help.”
“That's what I plan to do,” he said. “We also have to keep our Congressional majority. And as soon as we win this race in the primary, I plan to go around the country and help us win in swing districts, because we have to win the House. We can't afford to lose the House.”
“All they're going to do is impeachment and those sort of things if the Democrats take over,” Gaines said. “We won't make any more progress.”
So far, Lexy Doherty, who ran unsuccessfully against incumbent District 10 Congressman Mike Collins in 2024, is the sole declared Democratic candidate for the party nomination for the U.S. District 10 race. Collins is running for the U.S. Senate.
Gaines said he would be in the Georgia House through the current session because “I committed to the two-year term and I'll be there.”
Gaines said he wants to push legislation he introduced last year that was not passed that would allow citizens to seek property taxes refunds “if the value of their home is diminished as a result of their local government's inaction” on laws dealing with such things as homelessness and immigration.
“What I've found is the only way to get these local governments at times like Athens to listen is hit them in the pocketbook,” he said, “
Athens-Clarke County, which votes Democratic, has four state representatives, but only one, Spencer Frye in House District 122, is a Democrat. The county is divided so that three of the districts, including the 120th and 121st, are heavily Republican.
Paton As Candidate
Paton, who followed Gaines to the podium at the Dec. 1 meeting, picked up on the comments Gaines had made about Athens-Clarke County.
“To Houston's credit,” Paton said, “I think that's something that he has done very, very well, looking at what's happening within the district, both what's generally not happening well in Clarke County, but then looking here in Oconee County and seeing what the commissioner have done, what the individuals have done, both in the education system, in the infrastructure, in the tax base.”
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| Paton 12/1/2025 |
Paton said what has been accomplished in Oconee County should be “a model of what the other four counties in the district could be doing.”
Paton is an associate professor teaching nutritional biochemistry at the University of Georgia and also serves in the Army National Guard as a Major.
Paton said the 120th is a “high-visibility district because of the university. We want to make sure that the things that we are doing in the 120th District represent the State of Georgia very, very well.”
“Every county and every district in the State of Georgia is sending their children here,” he said.
People around the state want to know “they can send their students here and those students will be safe, not only from indoctrination, but just from a physical point of view, that they can walk the streets of Athens at any time of day and know that they're safe.”
Paton said he want to make sure that “the district attorney, the county commissioners, and all of the law enforcement in the area are enforcing the laws that they are entrusted to enforce” and to hold “them accountable at the state level.”
Once he qualifies as a candidate in March, Paton said, he will take a leave of absence from the University. If elected in November, he will be required to resign from the University.
“I'm very happy to do that,” he said, “because it is definitely a step up to move away from academia.”
At present, Suzanna Karatassos is the sole Democrat who has announced plans to run for that party’s nomination for House District 120.
Broun As Candidate
Broun is one of four candidates seeking the party’s nomination to run for Senate District 46, made vacant because incumbent Republican Bill Cowsert is running for he party’s nomination for Attorney General.
Brown, who is Cowsert’ law partner, is joined by Steven Strickland, Douglas McKillip, and Marc McMain. McMain spoke before the Oconee County Republican Party in September.
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| Broun 12/1/2025 |
Democratic Candidates are William Golden, who spoke before Oconee County Democrats in November, and Ray Smith, who announced his candidacy last week.
“I'm from right here,” Broun told the Oconee County Republicans. “My family moved to Oconee County at a time where that Zip's Car Wash on (U.S.) 441 was a place called Ray's Corner.”
Broun is the nephew of former Republican U.S. Congressman Paul Broun Jr. and grandson of former Georgia Senator Paul Broun Sr., who represented Oconee County as a Democrat in Atlanta.
Broun said he was not running for office “for me. I'm not doing it for title or acclaim. I'm doing it to give back to a place and people who have given me so much.”
Broun said he is a lawyer, and that “means I represent people and businesses. I defend their livelihoods, their rights, and sometimes their very freedom. I fight for fairness, accountability, and justice.”
“That's what I'll do for you in Atlanta,” he said. “I have the ability and the experience to take on big fights with big implications and protect the things that are important to us. I'll go to Atlanta to protect our shared conservative principles.”
Broun said he wants to “help lower, reduce, and maybe even eliminate the state income tax so you keep more of your hard-earned money in your pocket, cut bureaucracy and red tape to help small businesses and our economy grow.”
“I'll stand with police officers for safe communities,” he said. “First responders will know they have a friend and ally in me at the Capitol. I'll support teachers, for expanded school choice, and to remove woke ideologies from classrooms.”
“I want every child to have a chance to succeed without indoctrination,” he said. “And most of all, I'll stand for our basic principles, the freedom of speech, of faith, and the right to bear arms so we can protect our families.”
Kendrick As Candidate
Kendrick, the owner of Oconee Communications, which operates 11 local radio stations in North and Middle Georgia, spoke before the Oconee County Republican Party at its meeting on November 17.
Ward Black, the third announced candidate, had spoken to the party in October.
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| Allen Kendrick 11/17/2025 |
I posted a story about that November meeting, focusing entirely on Guest, who introduced himself as candidate in the special Dec. 9 election for House District 121 that night. I said I would return to the other candidates in a subsequent post.
Kendrick said at that November meeting that he was happy that Gaines had decided to run for Congress to “clean up the mess in Washington,” but “we can’t clone the guy, so I had to go to another plan, which was to step up to the plate and be there to take that torch and continue on.”
Kendrick said his first goal is “supporting and protecting our kids in schools. I mean actually protecting our kids in schools from the violence that's trying to get from the outside.”
In addition, he said “We have to protect our kids from the woke ideology nonsense that is trying to get in our school system constantly.”
“I think Jackson County, and Barrow County, and Oconee County are in pretty good shape,” he said. “But Clark County, you have got to watch out.”
Another goal, Kendrick said, is “protecting law enforcement, supporting law enforcement. That means financially, making sure that they have the equipment that they need, but also just having their back.”
“And remember, it was four or five years ago, we had members of the Athens-Clarke County Commission actively pushing to defund the police,” he said. “And they're ready to do it again. They're just looking for another crack in that door to get in there and wait for us to be caught off guard.”
“You have home rule,” he said, “but you start crossing over the line, we're going top put a stop to it."
“Finally, income tax,” Kendrick said. “We've talked about property tax and income tax. Property taxes have to get under control. We have cities, we have counties that keep going back to that piggy bank over and over again, trying to solve all their problems and hitting folks over the head over and over again.”
“It's ridiculous,” he said. “These cities, these municipalities, and these counties have to have smart growth to bring revenue in and stop going back to that same source over and over again.”
“And finally, transportation and infrastructure,” Kendrick added. “I hit on this just briefly. We all put our money in the pot. It's supposed to be distributed properly throughout the state. So often we see that money going to metro Atlanta, and we have to make sure we stand up for that.”
Other Speakers
The final speaker at the Dec. 1 meeting of the Oconee County Republican Party was incumbent Insurance Commissioner John King.
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| Rivera Holmes 11/17/2025 |
At the Nov. 17 meeting, in addition to Guest and Kendrick, State Sen. Steve Gooch, a candidate for Lt. Governor, and Georgia Labor Commissioner Barbara Rivera Holmes spoke.
To keep this post as a manageable length, have focused in this post on the candidates who presented at these meetings seeking to represent Oconee County in the legislature.
Party Chair Hurley does not allow video or audio recording of party meetings, so there is no record of the comments of the speakers.
Thirty-three people attended the Dec. 1 meeting, and just more than 50 attended the Oct. 17 meeting.
Both meetings took place at Piedmont Oconee Health Campus on Jennings Mill Road.
Guest Announcement
Guest announced on Jan. 12 that he has decided to run in the May 19 Republican Party Primary for House District 121.
“After prayer and time spent with my family,” he said in his announcement, “I’ve decided to run again. This was a decision we made together, and I can confidently say the Guests are still all in.”
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| Guest 11/17/2025 |
“I’m confident we’ll look back and see that the special election was an outlier,” Guest said of the Dec. 9 outcome.
“I believe in this district, I believe in our values, and I know we can win in November,” the news release continues.
“Across the country, voters are seeing the consequences of failed Democrat policies in blue states: rising crime, unchecked fraud, and communities paying the price. Those policies have no place here,” the release quotes Guest as saying.
“We need conservative leaders in Atlanta who will stand up for everyday citizens,” he continued. “Our district has unfinished business, and I’m ready to get back to work fighting for a safer, stronger, and more affordable Georgia.”
Gisler defeated Guest by 198 votes across the two counties.
Oconee County’s Central, South, and Dark Corner precincts are in the 121st House District, as well as parts of Clarke County. Oconee County is the dominant part of the District.
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