For more information, contact:
Melita Easters, Executive Director – 404-408-9863
ATLANTA –Georgia WIN List announces the endorsement of Barrow County Democratic Party Chair Shelbey Diamond Alexander, the only Democrat in a six-person contest, for the January 31 jungle general House District 119 special election to represent a rapidly growing district between Atlanta and Athens.
Mrs. Alexander is a retired systems coordinator, a wife, a mother of three, a grandmother of three and a former juvenile detention officer who has a long-time reputation among family and friends as a plain-spoken problem solver and bridge-builder who works hard, is a good listener and knows how to balance budgets.
The district includes portions of Barrow and Jackson counties. The special election was called after the first term Republican elected in November was arrested on multiple felony counts arising from the theft of prescription narcotics from elderly residents under his care at a senior facility. While the district has traditionally voted Republican, it is a rapidly growing and diversifying area caught between Atlanta’s growth pushing east and expansion of Athens pushing west. If necessary, a runoff will be on February 28.
A native of Natural Bridge, Virginia, Mrs. Alexander and her husband of 30 years, Welton, moved to Georgia in 1995 for her job with State Farm Insurance Companies. The family has lived in Winder since 2003. As a young single mom in Virginia, she became the first in her family to get a college degree through the adult degree program offered at prestigious Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, Virginia. She graduated summa cum laude while also working and raising her children.
Read more about her campaign and her stands on the issues at her website.
“Shelbey is a life-long Democrat who has put her beliefs into action as she tirelessly worked to build a stronger party organization in Barrow County. She would be a great representative for a rapidly changing district, bringing a combination of compassion and common sense to committee meeting rooms and legislative debates. She will be welcomed by our growing women’s caucus as a strong voice for choice at a time when the Georgia GOP would limit a woman’s rights to medical autonomy,” Said Melita Easters, Executive Director and Founding Chair of Georgia WIN List
Georgia WIN List is the state’s leading Political Action Committee for electing Democratic women and celebrates it’s 23rd Anniversary this year. The group has helped elect more than 90 endorsed women to the Georgia General Assembly over the years, a record setting 50 of whom currently serve.
During 2022, a record setting 14 WIN List endorsed women were newly elected to the General Assembly and one incumbent switched chambers after being gerrymandered out of her district. In 2020, four endorsed women FLIPed seats, two former legislators returned to the House and four new women were elected to traditional Democratic districts while 20 incumbent endorsed women defeated challengers. In 2018, Georgia WIN List endorsed women won 13 legislative seats, including FLIPS which shifted the Cobb, Fulton and Gwinnett delegations from red to blue.
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