Friday afternoon Georgia Congressman Jack Kingston arrived in Bainbridge to tour the area and speak to a small group of residents and community leaders about his upcoming senate campaign.
Georgia Republican Saxby Chambliss will not be seeking reelection in the U.S. Senate this year and now Kingston, two other congressman and five other candidates are vying for the seat.
Kingston stopped by Bainbridge Pharmacy Thursday on his first stop in town, meeting with Bainbridge Mayor Edward Reynolds. He then went to Port City Deli where anyone was welcome to meet him and ask questions. Community leaders arrived and lent Kingston an ear for several minutes before the floor was open to questions.
“Even though he is not from our district he has done a lot to uphold good principles in Washington and he still has those Georgia roots,” Bainbridge resident Ryan Cleveland said, introducing Kingston.
Kingston currently serves as the U.S. Representative for the First Congressional District in the state. The district covers 17 counties — much of them being on the coastline around Savannah.
Kingston told Bainbridge residents about his extensive history with agriculture legislation, working on the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee.
“While I have come all the way over here, I touch this area as much as I can,” Kingston said.
Bainbridge-Decatur County Development Authority Executive Director Rick McCaskill addressed the issues with barge traffic and the concerns with how that affects local industry.
“We want to work with you here to increase barge traffic or at least be helpful with getting the river depth back,” Kingston said, who noted his work with various Corp. of Engineer offices to get the river in Savannah deepened and increase barge traffic there.
Kingston said his campaign would mainly spend time in the metro-Atlanta area, as that is where 37 percent of the votes in the state come from.
“We are spending a lot of time up there,” Kingston said. “I don’t want to ignore y’all so we would love to have you following our campaign, but the numbers are really high in terms of where the big boats are. Six metro Atlanta counties control 37 percent of the votes in the state.”