The AJC reports that DeKalb County’s State Senator, David Adelman, has chosen the Old DeKalb County Courthouse in Decatur for his swearing in as the U.S. Ambassador to Singapore

Adelman was confirmed by the U.S. Senate late last week after being nominated by President Obama.  The ambassador plans to be settling into his new Singapore embassy home in the next few weeks.

Area residents looking to fill Adelman’s vacant State Senate seat are already lining up.  Yard signs for Decatur resident Tom Stubbs and Candler Park resident Jason Carter are already popping up along residential streets in the area.  Libertarian David Montane also recently launched a campaign for the seat.

Things are slowly beginning to take shape in the race to fill the 42 District GA Senate seat being vacated by David Adelman, who is scheduled to become President Obama’s Ambassador to Singapore in the coming weeks.

Jason Carter and Tom Stubbs have already officially announced, but are there other candidates waiting in the wings? In an overview of the race thus far, the Decatur News Online e-pub drops this interesting tidbit…

Acting Chair of the DeKalb Libertarian Party, Chris Barber, told Decatur News Online that his camp will announce a candidate for the seat in the very near future. Barber says that the candidate is a long-time Decatur resident and small business owner that will “reach out heavily to the gay and lesbian community.” “His platform will be based on human rights and fiscal responsibility,” Barber said.

And shifting the focus back to the known candidates, David writes in to DM with a report of a polling call from Jason Carter and a question for his fellow readers…

Got a polling call from what was never explicitly identified as — but very clearly was — the Jason Carter campaign for the Adelman seat. It was remarkably thorough and long (i.e. expensive), it might be interesting to post a “have you gotten any polling calls? if so from whom?” question in the next few days.

Jimmy Carter recently offers an apology to the Jewish community and all of a sudden the race for David Adelman’s District 42 Georgia Senate seat is news on The Atlantic’s website…

Jimmy Carter wants the Jewish community to know that he understands Israel’s travails, and that this new understanding is not connected in any way to his grandson’s quest to represent a partially-Jewish district in Atlanta in the Georgia state legislature.

In a recent interview with JTA, the elder Carter said…

“Jason has a district, the number of Jewish voters in it is only 2 percent,” he said, chuckling.

District 42 Candidate Jason Carter responded to his grandfather’s apology with the following statement to JTA…

Read the rest of this entry »

Tom Stubbs writes in to confirm that he will indeed be running against Jason Carter for the State Senate seat being vacated by David Adelman, who will be President Obama’s new ambassador to Singapore.  The seat will be filled in a special Spring election.  Tom writes to DM…

I just wanted to pass along to you the press release issued today regarding the commencement of my campaign for state senate. The district encompasses far more than the City of Decatur. However, I think it would be nice for at least one of the legislators who represent us to lay their head on a Decatur pillow at night. I hope to fill that void.

In his attached press release sent out today, Stubbs cites his 18 years of living and 15 years of working in Decatur, his legislative experience chairing the legislative committee of the State bar, and a “leader in the bar.”

Stubbs lists “education, the environment and public safety” as the “key issues” facing DeKalb County.

John Ridley sends in this announcement…

Former Decatur City Commissioner John Ridley (1998-2002) is considering a run for the State Senate District 42 being vacated by David Adelman. Senator Adelman has been nominated by President Obama to be ambassador to Singapore.

Former Commissioner Ridley has served as a Vice Chair of the Dekalb County Democratic Party, a Policy Analyst for the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, a Tax Policy Analyst for the Georgia General Assembly, is a third generation alumni of Emory University, a graduate of The American University’s College of Public Affairs, and has lived in Decatur for over 25 years.

Over on the Oakhurst Message Board, DeKalb Superior Court Judge Candidate, A. Thomas Stubbs, Esq., announces a Candidates Forum at Winnona Park Elementary School on September 16th at 7pm.

Present will be State Representative Stephanie Stuckey Benfield and State Senator David Adelman, along with their respective opponents, Ken Quarterman and Altaf Galeyev.  Decatur City Commissioner Kecia Cunningham is scheduled to moderate.

I’m sure all the Winnona Park folks are already well-aware of this event, but for those of us who don’t live in the neighborhood or who have been uncerimoniously declined from joining their list-serv without even an explanation, it may be of interest.