ATLANTA – A Georgia congressional candidate convicted of a misdemeanor for illegally demonstrating inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, walked out of a televised debate with a fellow Republican on Sunday, ahead of the June 18 primary runoff.
It was the latest volatile twist in southwest Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District, where Chuck Hand and Wayne Johnson are competing for the GOP nomination to take over the 16-term Democratic incumbent. Representative Sanford Bishop in November.
Hand is one of at least four people convicted of January 6 crimes running for Congress this year, all as Republicans. He was sentenced to 20 days in federal prison and six months of probation.
At the start of a debate sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club, Hand said he refused to debate Johnson after Michael Nixon, who finished third in the May 21 primary, held a news conference last month endorsing Johnson.
Nixon filed a criminal trespass charge in 2005 and a DUI charge in 2010 against Hand, both of which were dismissed. Nixon also cited federal court documents argue that Hand’s participation in the January 6 riot was more serious than Hand had claimed.
“This is where I get back in my truck and head back to southwest Georgia because I have two races to win,” Hand said, leaving the studio as cameras rolled.
“Aren’t you staying?” asked anchor Donna Lowry. “Are you leaving, sir? OK.”
“Wow, I don’t even know how to react,” Johnson said.
Johnson, an official at the U.S. Department of Education during the Donald Trump administration, said Hand’s departure is further proof that Hand is not fit to be the Republican nominee.
“I would like to assume that Chuck Hand leaving the way he did today was his withdrawal from the race,” Johnson told reporters afterward. “But it should certainly make people stop and think about why he did it and what he was trying to achieve by it.”
After Hand left the debate, he answered reporters’ questions for nearly 20 minutes, saying he believed Johnson helped orchestrate Nixon’s attacks. Hand was particularly critical of Nixon’s mention of his wife’s previous conviction for illegally selling oxycodone.
“It is perfectly normal to attack me as a candidate. I hope so. But coming out and publicly attacking my wife is a completely different situation,” Hand said. “My wife paid her debt to society long before I met her.”
He attacked Johnson for not living within the district’s boundaries, which is not required for congressional candidates.
A construction superintendent who lives in rural Butler, Hand once again portrayed himself as a leader of a working-class movement to improve economic conditions in one of Georgia’s poorest areas. Hand said he would bring black and white workers together under the banner of Donald Trump. Hand has disdained the traditional formal attire of political candidates throughout the campaign, wearing a blue denim shirt and a Caterpillar baseball cap on Sunday.
Johnson won almost 45% of the vote in the May 21 primaries while Hand gained almost 32%. As no one won a majority, voters will decide the candidate in the second round. Early in-person voting begins on Monday, ahead of the June 18 elections.
“Money won’t win this election, hearts will, voters will,” Hand said. The coalition that we have built on the ground over these years will win these elections. It was the grassroots activists on the ground who did the preparation work that will win in November. America first? I’m your 2nd District First candidate.”
Johnson defended a more moderate position, saying any Republican hoping to defeat Bishop needs to do more to appeal to the largely black Democrats who supported the former incumbent. He said during the debate that he does not support Republicans’ proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps.
“We’re going to have to get 50,000 people who normally vote Democrat to vote Republican,” Johnson told reporters after the debate. “And this will basically be based on, ‘Can you prove to people, can you demonstrate to people in advance that you really can make their lives better?’”
Johnson dismissed Hand’s attacks on him for living on the outskirts of Macon County, saying he has invested in businesses in the district and would move to a home he owns in Plains, Jimmy Carter’s hometown, if he is elected.
