By Terry Richards

terry.richards@gaflnews.com

VALDOSTA — A candidate for Georgia secretary of state was in Valdosta Wednesday, saying Atlanta needs more top-level state leadership drawn from rural areas.

Floyd Griffin, a Democrat, was meeting the public Wednesday afternoon at his campaign bus, which was parked at the Castle Park shopping area.

Griffin touted his 23 years of experience in the Army, ranging from flying helicopters in Vietnam to leading engineering operations under Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. He said during service in the Pentagon he managed several major construction projects.

Upon retiring from the Army, he returned to his hometown of Milledgeville and to the family business, a funeral home.

He successfully ran for state Senate in 1993; Griffin said he was the first African American elected to the seat from majority-white state Senate District 25.

He ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 1998, then won the mayorship of Milledgeville in 2002, the first Black candidate to do so.

Asked why he was running for Georgia secretary of state, Griffin said it is because “our democracy is in peril due to the Jan. 6 insurrection. 

“I wanted to do something to move toward a better democracy,” Griffin said. “I am a patriot.”

If elected, he said the first thing he would do would be to audit the election that put him in office to ensure it was fair, accurate, secure and safe. Elections fall under the secretary of state’s authority, and former President Donald Trump spent more than an hour on the phone with current Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, trying to get him to overturn Georgia’s vote results, which had gone to Biden. Raffensperger refused and the phone call was cited in an article of impeachment against Trump.

Griffin said he would set up a regional office in Macon where he would spend a few days a month meeting with the public. He said he would do the same every couple of months at an office already set up in Tifton.

The candidate also said he opposes legislation that would disenfranchise Georgia’s voters, especially African Americans.

Georgia’s primary elections will be held May 24; early voting starts May 2.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.