AROUND TOWN: Cobb Dems Rally at KSU; Candidates Sound Off
Erick Allen, chair of the Cobb County Democratic Committee, and state Rep. Teri Anulewicz, D-Smyrna, chair of the Cobb County Legislative Delegation, were among those in attendance at Saturday’s Democratic rally at Kennesaw State University. Jon Gillooly
Oct 31, 2023
In the wake of a court-ordered redrawing of Georgia’s congressional map, U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Suwanee should "absolutely" be worried about his reelection, said Erick Allen, chair of the Cobb County Democrats.
Allen rallied with Cobb County candidates and state legislators from around the metro on the campus green at Kennesaw State University Saturday.
“I think Rich McCormick is probably the likeliest seat (to be sacrificed), not only because the 6th was already kind of a purplish-blue seat, but also Rich McCormick doesn’t have any true ties not only to the federal legislature but to the state legislature,” Allen said. “You have (U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Cassville) who served with most of the people there. So Rich McCormick is an easy sacrificial lamb to take out.”
Allen predicts significant changes in the 6th, and also the 14th, represented by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome.
“Marjorie Taylor Greene I think leaves Cobb," Allen said. "I think she wants out of Cobb. She’s never shown up and done anything in Cobb, so I think it will be a natural correction to shift the 6th more into Cobb. At the end of the day, I think a lot of this is going to revert back to what we used to see.”
BEARING WITNESS:
Six members of the Cobb legislative delegation were in attendance Monday when family members of Israeli hostages being held by the terrorist group Hamas met with the Georgia General Assembly.
State Rep. Teri Anulewicz, D-Smyrna, was one of Cobb’s representatives there. She was joined by state Sen. Jason Esteves, D-Atlanta, state Rep. Terry Cummings, D-Mableton, state Rep. Lisa Campbell, D-Kennesaw, state Rep. Devan Seabaugh, R-Marietta, and state Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-east Cobb.
Anulewicz noted she and her peers were at the meeting “to bear witness,” adding it was not a press conference, but an opportunity for General Assembly members to listen to those whose family members are still being held captive in Gaza.
“During the gathering, one of the women who was there received news that Hamas had released a video of several hostages, including her cousin,” Anulewicz said. “It was a lot. Shani Segal was her name, and it was, it was just a lot.”
Anulewicz also referenced the recent display of antisemitism by a neo-Nazi hate group on an I-75 overpass in north Cobb, as antisemitic incidents, already on the rise, have spiked since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
“It’s a lot to know that in 2023, we’re having to sit and explain to people why Nazis are bad,” Anulewicz said. “It’s just astonishing.”
To Anulewicz, it was important to meet with hostages’ family members in their time of need.
“Those folks are very courageous to travel all this way to talk to lawmakers about their family members,” Anulewicz said. “I was very proud that we had six folks from the Cobb delegation who took the time to go down there to just hear from these individuals and to bear witness to their suffering.”