Austin’s Daily Commentary – December 28, 2023

Austin: The Columbia County political farm system is getting a workout with the recent appointment of Barry Fleming to the Superior Court judge position held by the now retiring Jim Blanchard. It's going to create a vacancy. And of course, nature hates a vacuum, right? Absolutely.

So Gary Richardson will be announcing actually, he has announced several internally that he is running for the seat that was once held by Barry Fleming. That's not an appointment. The appointments come with judicial positions. The legislative positions actually have to have someone step up and run. So for a period of time, there will be a vacancy in the state representative position that Barry Fleming has held for so many years.

Gary Richardson, third District, Columbia County Commissioner, has done a great job over the years, and he will be offering for that. In an email that he sent out to several supporters last night, he confirmed that's kind of been the rumor for a while. But look for Gary Richardson to make a strong run for that third excuse me, for the state House seat being vacated by Barry Fleming, the third District commission seat that he will be vacating very likely will be sought by Mike Caraway early.

Again, all of these election dates and things will be set a little bit later by Governor Kemp. And also Barry Fleming has a decision to make about how long he's going to stick around in the current state legislative session. Like I said, the political farm system in Columbia County kicking into full gear. No doubt about it. And that's the comment, I'm Austin Rhodes AM 580/95.1 FM News Talk WGAC.