With Georgia Senator Jason Carter announcing that he’ll challenge Gov. Nathan Deal for the Georgia governor’s seat next year, the Georgia 42nd district seat will be vacated.

DM has confirmed that Decatur attorney Kyle Williams has filed the paperwork to run for the open Senate seat and plans to make a formal announcement mid-week this week.  With the announcement, Williams says he also plans to release a list of first round endorsements.

“Numbers support our run and we can win.” Williams tells DM.

Mr. Williams’ registration form lists Jesse A. Davis as his Campaign Manager and Christa Dell Sobon as his Treasurer.

This was mentioned at the last Decatur City Commission meeting.

Decatur’s State Representatives Mary Margaret Oliver and Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, along with State Senator Jason Carter are holding a “town hall meeting” at 6:30p in the city commisison meeting room at Decatur City Hall.

Patch says that HOPE scholarships are one potential topic of conversation, since Senator Carter has been pushing for changes to the scholarship programs –  including a cap on family income eligibility and downsizing the size of the commission’s staff – as recently reported by the AJC.

There’s also likely to be talk about the recent redistricting, which will provide future challenges for some state reps, especially Rep. Benfield.

With Georgia’s 2011 legislative season well under way, the city of Decatur’s full list of legislators plan to hold a “town hall” style meeting at Decatur’s City Hall on Tuesday, February 1st from 6p-7p to hear from their constituents, according to a press release sent by Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield.

In addition to Rep. Benfield, Senator Jason Carter, Rep. Stacey Abrams, Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, and Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd will be in attendance to listen and respond to concerns of Decatur residents regarding this year’s legislative session.

What are some of the hot topics in this year’s session?  Well I asked Rep. Benfield that very question!  Here is her response…

The tax issue is the biggie. If the Tax Reform Council’s proposal moves forward, we’ll be looking at greater sales taxes and taxes on services. That will affect everyone who buys groceries and numerous services – from plumbing to selling girl scout cookies to prescription drugs. All of these would be taxed under the new plan.

We’ll likely see some water legislation with a focus on increasing supply through reservoirs.

And education is always a hot topic, with funding for the HOPE Scholarship and pre-K programs to be at risk.

Additionally, Rep. Benfield hinted that she’s working on legislation that will “help Georgia breweries expand their businesses…to allow breweries and brew pubs more opportunities to promote and sell their product”.  However, she’s still working on a draft of that legislation, so we’ll have to be patient for more details on that front!

For more information about any of this, you can contact Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield at (404) 964-7025.

Now this could prove an interesting storyline for tomorrow.  Newly-minted State Senator Jason Carter just tweeted…

The Georgia Consitution requires that Senate convene tomorrow. If there’s no quorum, state patrol might have to pick legislators up.

Macrolina points out a “classy move by Tom Stubbs”…

Jason Carter, former President Jimmy Carter’s grandson, will be the only name on the state Senate District 42 ballot in the July Democratic primary.

Tom Stubbs, who has already qualified to run for the DeKalb County legislator seat, said Wednesday that he is withdrawing from the race.

The DNO also reported this yesterday.