Even though Nathan Deal is my congressman, I’ll vote for Oxendine. Oxendine has been a very good insurance commissioner who has been an advocate for the insurance consumer - I think he’ll make a great Governor. I hope Nathan stays in congress while he runs for Governor.
It’s no criticism on my part of Deal in saying he’s not likely to be the nominee. Oxendine has been the leading candidate for some time now, and by all accounts was the likeliest successor to Perdue.
Deal faced an enormous difficulty in winning the nomination for Governor if only because GA has not been favorably inclined to electing federal officials to the State House. The last Governor to have been elected who previously served in the House was Thomas William Hardwick in 1920 (who served both a stint in the House and the Senate, but was already out of office by the time he was elected Governor). The last person to have gone directly from Congress to the Governorship was the legendary Alexander Hamilton Stephens in 1882.