Cobb Board of Education member David Chastain, a three-term Republican from Post 4 in Northeast Cobb, will be officially launching his re-election campaign next week.
His campaign sent a message Thursday about a “meet and greet fundraiser” next Wednesday in the Town Center area organized by the campaign’s steering committee.
The names include some of the most prominent members of Cobb Republican and business leadership.
They include John Loud of Loud Security Systems, a former Cobb Chamber of Commerce chairman who’s gotten involved recently in local Republican campaigns, and who is Chastain’s steering committee chairman.
Republicans hold a 4-3 majority on the Cobb school board, which has been roiled by a number of partisan controversies in recent years.
Three of the seven school board posts are up for election in 2026, and Chastain is the only Republican. Post 4 includes the Kell, Lassiter and Sprayberry high school attendance zones (post map here).
In 2022, Chastain was re-elected with 55 percent of the vote in a bitter general election campaign (he was later fined for campaign finance violations).
He’s the only Republican to announce thus far for the Post 4 seat; Micheal Garza, a vocal critic of Cobb County School District and Republican school board leadership, is the only Democrat who has announced. The primaries are May 19.
Chastain’s campaign has been stressing what it calls his “record of proven success” as reflected by Cobb school district scores in student academic performance, upgrading facilities through SPLOST sales-tax extensions, school safety initiatives and “leadership that puts students first.”
Here’s Chastain’s campaign website. His campaign Facebook page also has recently been making many of those claims, with some critics of district and board leadership taking issue.
Loud is the head of Chastain’s steering committee, which incudes Jay Cunningham of Superior Plumbing, another former Chamber luminary, as well as former Chamber chairman David Connell; Mitch Rhoden, president and CEO of Futren Hospitality, which manages Indian Hills Country Club; business and community leaders Frank Wigington, Stan Wise and Shane Spink, Chastain’s appointee to the board’s facilities and technology committee; and Donna Rowe, head of the Cobb Veterans Memorial Foundation.
Others from GOP politics include former Cobb school board member Scott Sweeney of East Cobb; former Cobb Republican Party chairmen Jason Shepherd and Scott Johnson; former Georgia State Sen. Chuck Clay; and Larry Savage of East Cobb, a former candidate for Cobb Commission Chairman.
Loud previously worked in 2024 to elect John Cristadoro, the Post 5 Republican school board member from East Cobb, and also recruited realtor Kay Morgan, the GOP nominee for Cobb Commission Chair who was defeated in 2024 by incumbent Democrat Lisa Cupid.
Chastain’s campaign chairwoman is Joy Doss, a securities fraud attorney.
Related:
- East Cobb Democrats welcome local, gubernatorial candidates
- Cobb Elections seeks input on polling locations
- Physician announces campaign for 11th District Congress
- Health care CEO announces GOP bid for Ga. governor
- Loudermilk won’t seek re-election to Congress
- Democrat announces 11th Congressional District candidacy
- Cobb school board leadership remains in GOP hands
- Republican announces bid for Cobb Commission District 3
- MORE: Visit the East Cobb News Politics & Elections Page
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