Top Strategists Urge Vernon Jones To Leave Senate Race, Run Against Hank Johnson

(12/21/07) Hold the phone, folks. The U.S. Senate race on the Democratic side may be about to take a bounce.

Strategists who are advising DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones, who’s already announced for the Senate, hope to persuade him this weekend to get out of that race and run, instead, against freshman Congressman Hank Johnson.

The reason: they say they’ve got information that Johnson is getting involved behind the scenes in an intra-mural fight on the DeKalb County Commission to choose a new presiding officer.

Jones is supporting Larry Johnson. But strategist Kenneth Walker said he’s got information that Hank Johnson is lobbying for Kathie Gannon and has teamed up in that endeavor with Elaine Boyer, the lone Republican on the DeKalb Commission.

That’s a sign, says Walker, that there’s a new effort to broaden Republican influence in DeKalb County and that Johnson, a Democrat, supports it.

“We are going to ask Vernon to reassess running for the U.S. Senate and run against Hank so we can stop this potential erosion of Democratic strength,” said Walker.

The presiding officer sets the agenda for commission meetings.

Walker said a group of about a half dozen of Jones’ key supporters have asked to meet with him about the issue this weekend, but he’s not necessarily looking for an immediate answer.

Pollster and syndicated columnist Matt Towery, without commenting on Jones’ prospects in the Senate race, said this of the congressional bid Walker and others want Jones to make, instead:

“What has been curious to me is that the district’s politics has always been controlled to a great degree by African-American churches and their pastors. I would imagine that if Vernon Jones were to enter the race, the issue of the fact that the current congressman is Buddhist may be an issues that Jones doesn’t make but is certainly going to come to the attention of these pastors.

“You usually presume that a congressman is going to get re-elected, but if Vernon Jones gets in the race it’s a different set of circumstances. I think he would be a very powerful candidate. I’m not putting down anyone’s religion, but you would have to be insane to turn a blind eye to the role these churches and pastors have played, particularly in that district.”