Lewis Disqualified From State Senate Primary Election

GEORGIA — Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Friday upheld a recommendation to disqualify District 52 State Senate candidate Jeff Lewis from running in the May 24 primary.

Responding to a challenge from incumbent Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, an administrative court judge ruled Thursday that Lewis hadn’t filed campaign-contribution disclosure reports since 2012.

“The judge correctly followed the law, which said that if you have outstanding fines or reports then you are ineligible to run,” Hufstetler said to WBHF Community Radio. “And we’re certainly not talking about a typo on one report — we’re talking 10 years worth of reports.”

Senate Bill 201 — introduced by Hufstetler himself and passed in 2021 — tightened eligibility requirements by mandating that “all disclosure reports due” be filed before qualification.

Lewis previously had served as a state representative, with his last term ending in 2008. His campaign last submitted a finance report on Dec. 28, 2012, according to The Daily Tribune News in Cartersville.

“Chuck Hufstetler defended the election sham in 2020, and now he is attempting to cancel the votes of the people of this district,” Lewis said in a news release issued Friday.

Assuming his disqualification stands, any votes for Lewis cast so far will not be counted, Bartow County Elections Supervisor Joseph Kirk told the Cartersville newspaper.

Lewis told WBHF Community Radio that his team is already planning an appeal.

Read the stories from WBHF Community Radio and The Daily Tribune News.