Pamela Reardon doesn’t have another Republican to run against in her campaign for the District 2 seat on the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
Not after the Cobb Board of Elections disqualified another GOP hopeful for living outside the map boundaries that are being used for the May 21 primary.
Reardon, a retired real estate agent who’s active in local Republican politics, knows her name also could be scratched from the general election ballot if a long-running legal dispute over commission electoral maps is decided before November.
But she’s campaigning anyway, as two courts are mulling over where commission districts might be formed that affect the East Cobb area in particular.
“Until something changes, this is how it is,” Reardon told East Cobb News on Monday, as advance primary voting got underway. “I’m not going to take a chance and not be on the ballot.”
She lives in the East Cobb portion of the current District 2 boundaries that are being observed by Cobb Elections for the primary. The district also includes the Smyrna-Vinings-Cumberland area.
They’re roughly the same boundaries that make up the area Democrat Jerica Richardson has represented since 2021.
But the Georgia legislature drew Richardson out of her seat during reapportionment in 2022, prompting an unprecedented maneuver by the commission’s three Democrats to claim home rule authority in redistricting.
Their vote in October 2022 challenges a long-held Georgia Constitutional provision that only the legislature can conduct redistricting. A Cobb Superior Court judge recently ruled the Cobb action unconstitutional, but the county has appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, and hearings were conducted earlier this month.
Another Cobb judge recently heard the appeal of Alicia Adams, a Republican who lives in what the legislature drew to be District 3, comprising most of East Cobb and part of the Kennesaw area, and who was disqualified from the primary.
In 2022, East Cobb voters found the District 3 race on their ballots, and Republican incumbent JoAnn Birrell was re-elected to a fourth term.
While plenty of confusion abounds, Reardon thinks there’s more to come. She doesn’t believe either legal case will be decided before the primary, if at all.
“Are they really going to stop the primary? Do you really think that’s going to happen? No,” she said.
Five Democrats qualified for the District 2 seat after Richardson announced her candidacy for the 6th Congressional District.
Among them are two East Cobb residents, Will Costa and Kevin Redmon, the latter a former member of Richardson’s “community cabinet.” Another Democratic candidate is Taniesha Whorton, who lives in the Powers Ferry Road area that’s also in the county-recognized District 2.
They also could be affected by a court ruling along residency lines. Two other Democrats were disqualified by the Cobb Democratic Party for similar reasons: former Marietta City Council member Reggie Copeland and Marietta resident Donald Barth.
East Cobb News has left messages with Costa, Redmon and Whorton seeking comment.
Redmon’s campaign said in an e-mail response that “the courts have taken the posture of taking their time to get this right and we will respect their decision. As it stands today, the Home Rule map is what Cobb is operating under and what the Cobb Board of Elections is using for this election.
“We’re out in the community at public and private events, knocking doors, meeting for coffee doing what it takes to show up for District 2,” the statement said. “[Redmon] will stand up for District 2 when elected. We encourage folks to vote on or before May 21.”
The other Democrats are in the Smyrna area that would be in District 2 either way: former Cobb Board of Education member Jaha Howard, and former State Rep. Erick Allen, who as Cobb legislative delegation chairman drew the maps the county is following.
Reardon finds it ironic that Cobb Democrats are fighting to redraw District 2 lines that include East Cobb. Richardson barely edged GOP nominee Fitz Johnson in 2020 with similar boundaries.
Reardon said she thinks District 2 as is and which previously was held for three terms by Republican Bob Ott, is “red.”
In the meantime, Reardon said she continues to canvass, not just in her own race but with other Republicans. She’s against the 30-year proposed Cobb transit tax that’s on the November ballot, wants the property tax millage rate to be rolled back, opposes a proposed stormwater impact fee and thinks the county needs to rein in spending.
“I’m not going to be devastated if they change the maps,” Reardon said, referring to what she calls “Home Rule 2,” adding that she’s considering a run in District 3 in 2026 (Redmon has filed a similar declaration of intent).
“I want to help give our citizens and the ordinary people of Cobb County a voice.”
Related:
- 2024 advance primary voting in Cobb: Races; wait times; more
- Cobb school board Post 5 candidates receive endorsements
- Cobb advance voting in 2024 primaries to start Monday
- Cobb Elections Board disqualifies commission candidate
- Cobb political incumbents facing primary opposition
- Cobb school board Post 5 candidates qualifyÂ
- Cobb Elections to use disputed maps in primary qualifying
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Is Reardon the nut case who always speaks at the school board meetings? You should watch them. She is crazy. I’ll try and find the links to her weird ones.